Free Fair Day

Two weeks ago, I was babysitting for my friend who is a lawyer. She has done many worthwhile things with her talents from prosecuting in the juvenile courts to helping victims of domestic violence. I truly, truly admire her for all the good she does.

So, I was babysitting her three kids and added to my three kids that meant I had the following: An 8-year-old, 7-year-old, 6-year-old, 5-year-old and two 2-year-olds. Suddenly, I realized that the county fair was in town and that this was "Free Fair Day." Six kids or not, I simply have to go to something as cool as "Free Fair Day." I look forward to this chance for my kids to get up close and personal with cows, pigs, horses, sheep and goats. This year they even had a sting-ray exhibit where the kids could actually pet the squishy little guys.

We dropped everything, loaded up in the van and headed to the fairgrounds. First we walked through all the booths where the kids were invited to play free games and win prizes (prizes like key chains, refrigerator magnets and other paraphernalia conspicuously decorated with logos and advertisements). The kids loved filling their bags with useless junk as I cringed knowing it would all be discarded the next day.

Then, we wandered over to see the animals. We spent some time with Mr. Ray. Soph loved the pink pigs. E-Man loved the cows. And, AiAi took it all in with wide-eyed wonder.

On our way to the exit, we happened upon a petting zoo of sorts where a guy was charging an arm and a leg for little cups of pellets the kids could feed the animals. I decided to splurge and get some pellets for the kids. In about 3-seconds, the goats had seized the cups from the kids' hands and were wearing them on their noses while greedily snarfing the food. So, I bought the kids more pellets. This time, before they even got to the goats, the cups were spilled in an impressive scattering on the ground. That meant it was time to go.

In our haste to get back to the van (both babies were screaming by this point because it was past their nap-times), one of the kids lost a cheap inflatable ball that had been won at a free game. This led to much screaming and gnashing of teeth (mostly the child's screaming, that is), while I sympathized (I'm sorry you lost that, it really meant a lot to you), then reasoned (I know that you would like to go back inside to find it, but that's just not possible, plus I was going to throw it away within hours anyways it's most likely already been picked up by someone else. I know you are upset, but you have to calm down because your screaming is causing everyone's eardrums to bleed bothering everyone.), then scolded (I realize that you are upset, but you MUST stop screaming NOW), then bribed (If you stop screaming, you can play a computer game or pick a video when we get home), then threatened (I have ice-cream at home and whoever isn't screaming by the time I count to ten gets some. I mean it, if you don't stop the screaming I will give every other child ice-cream and they will all eat it in front of you and I'm not going to let you have any), and finally begged (For the love of all that is good in this world you MUST stop screaming NOW, you have permanently damaged my hearing and I can't take it anymore. Stop. Stop. STOP!!!). All to no avail.

At some point, however, the screaming did stop. And, the kids started examining their loot. Soph checked out a miniature dry-erase board from the booth recruiting foster parents. "Mom, what is a 'foster parent'?"

"Well, sometimes kids don't have anyone to take care of them, so they go to live with another family and the parents of that family become the 'foster parents' to the child."

"But, where are the parents?"

Oh, the harsh realities we are sometimes brought to share with our children.

"Sometimes parents do things that are against the law and they have to go to jail so the kids need someone to look after them. And, I'm sorry to tell you this but, sometimes kids have parents who do bad things to kids so the kids are taken away and given to other parents who will be nice to them."

My friend's six-year-old chimed in at this point, "Yeah, but I don't think that could happen at our house because my mom is the one putting the bad guys in jail."

I loved that.