June 03, 2005

"The Aviator," bored kids, and other stuff

Last night Husband and I watched "The Aviator." I'm going to admit here and now that the only reason I rented it was to see Cate Blanchett's portrayel of Katharine Hepburn. She did a great job, by the way.

I am not a Leo DiCraprio fan. Sorry. He looks like a scrawny kid to me, and I'm not saying this because he stumped for Kerry. I didn't like him before the campaign.

The movie itself was pretty good. Howard Hughes had issues, huh? It was kind of sad, really, because here was a good looking, smart man, and he had these "demons" hounding him. What was the deal with his mom bathing him in the beginning, though? I was trying to get kids to bed, so I missed the significance of that.

Oh, but let me tell you about actually going up to Blockbuster to rent the flicks. Son was bored yesterday, and I suggested we go up and rent some movies. I told him, you can either get one movie or one game. He chose a Scooby DVD, fine with me. I even let him pick out some candy too. Well, Daughter thought she could get candy, and proceeded to grab some silly little candy ice cream thing and run off. I grabbed her, put the candy back and she threw herself on the floor and began screaming.

Ever calm and collected, I just scooped her up and went over to present rental card, money, all that, all the while Daughter is throwing herself around crying. Here's the thing, though: I didn't spank her! I fail to see the usefulness in spanking a crying child. HELLO? They'll just cry more! Plus it was getting on towards lunch and nap time, she generally melts down if there is a change in her routine. I just did what needed to be done, put her in her car seat while Son buckled himself in, and that was that. She whined all the way home, but hey, she was tired and hungry.

That's not to say that I don't give my kids a swat every now and then, but not when they're already so miserable.

Anyway, Dr. Spock....

So, Son is all bored and it's only the second day of summer vacation. Well, geez, am I supposed to entertain him all the time? We've got 22 acres he can run around on, swings to swing on, all kind of crap to keep him happy, and he mopes around. He wants to go over to Pittsburgh to the dino exhibit at the museum. Well, we'd love to take him, but our weekends are already full. He wants to go to friends' houses, but no one calls him up and no one returns my calls...what am I supposed to do, plop him on someone's doorstep?

It's going to be a very long summer at this rate.

Show Comments »