Remember I told you that all three kids had friends over at some point earler this week? Well, those friends converged on Monday and I took the three of them, along with my own three, to the local amusement park. On a day it was raining and only 75 degrees. Because I'm a glutton for punishment like that. We're counting down the days until school starts next week, so I figured one final day of fun was due, plus by golly, I'm going to wring every penny out of those season passes that I can.
This amusement park is fairly typical, with rides and food and souvenir shops. It also has a few small arcade areas, similar to a fair or carnival, where you can knock down milk bottles or toss rings around goldfish bowls or throw a basketball or whatever ---- to win cheap, cheesy crap.
I don't normally let my kids do any of the games because we have plenty of cheap, cheesy crap in our house already, and I think money is better spent on pizza and dippin dots and pretzels and cotton candy and JUNK FOOD . But, one of their friends had brought money and wanted to play a few games, so we headed off to the midway area.
As I was standing back, watching Kellen's friend spend $12 in an attempt to win a $2 cape, I noticed two slightly-older boys at a booth where the "prizes" were 16 x 20 poster prints. They had each won, and were walking away with their pictures tucked firmly under their arms.
These boys were maybe ... I don't know .... twelve or thirteen?
The first boy had some kind of Rambo-type picture of Sylvester Stallone. The photo showed Sly, bandana around his head, sweat and blood dripping off of him, his face scrunched in some vicious kind of sneer, and him holding an automatic weapon, pointed directly at the face of the viewer. Almost like an "Uncle Sam needs you!" image, but with an Uzi pointed in MY direction.
Boy #2 had a simple black poster, with the Playboy bunny image printed on it. No girl, no nudity, just the international icon with bunny ears and bustier, known the world over as a symbol for .... um .... bunny-ness, for lack of a better word.
I'm not sure which poster I found less appropriate for a twelve-year old boy's room.
And my belief that my money is better spent on rock candy was affirmed.
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9 comments:
You're my hero. You say everything that I think, just better!
You are absolutely right.
I have a funny story about the playboy bunny logo. Three years ago, someone had given my then 15 year old daughter a really nice fleec-ey stadium blanket, black on one side and white on the other. With a large playboy bunny logo prominently in the middle. We discussed the inappropriateness of it and all and it was relegated to the garage sale pile in well,the garage. Fast forward 3 years. The blanket is still in the garage sale pile. Last fall, my then freshman in high school son wanted a stadium blanket to take to a football game. I grabbed the black and white fleece-ey Mickey Mouse blanket from the garage and handed it to him and raced to drop him off at the game with his friends. Well, you can guess, I accidently grabbed the playboy blanket, which of course he didn't realize until he unrolled it to sit on at the game. Needless to say, he was not amused, although his friends though it was hilarious.
Yes, and AMEN! And that is all! Tammy in Ohio
Dippin Dots get my vote as the best way to spend money, given those choices. The posters would have never made the walls in my house. But, I'm old and narrow-minded that way!
Dixie
I once spent $30 of my parents' hard-earned money playing whack-a-mole to win a statue of a pig sitting in a rocking chair reading the Wall Street Journal. [Did I just admit that?]
I am so glad to know I am not the only one who doesn't let my children "give away" their money at those things.
I always feel that a sure thing is the right way to go. Like you said, you KNOW what you get when you plunk down that $5 for that tiny bit of junk food you would pay $1 for anywhere else.
I just posted a blog about court in a few hours for a custody hearing for our grandson. Our daugther also has a daughter that she has SOMEHOW managed to keep custody of in this wharped world. The blanket currently in use for her 10-month-old daughter??? A black fleece blanket with white PLAYBOY BUNNIES all over it. Her comment when we say anything about it? It's just a freakin blanket, and besides, she likes it!!!!
Please...let's take our infant daughter at the most moldable of her life and of all the blankets in the house (and Lord knows there are many, many, many) let's choose to use the Playboy Bunny blanket and teach her to like it! Maybe one day she'll be one????
Definitely smack-her-upside-the-head material!!!
Now it's my turn to say...Did {I} just admit that????
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