So I came home the other day to this note from my eight-year-old daughter. “Let us go to Disney World or Land?” Check box yes, or no. My first reaction was to laugh and sigh. How cute. Then I started thinking.
Is this the cutest thing ever, or is it a terrible sign of entitlement? When did a trip to Disneyland become a birthright? I never went on a family vacation that didn’t involve the back seat of a car. Neither did my hubby. And neither of us ever gave a moment’s thought to lobbying our parents for Disneyland. And lobbying relentlessly.
When I was a kid, my parents somehow convinced us that Disneyland was for fools. And though I can now see this for the financially motivated manipulation that it was, I still have lingering doubts.
So when I came across this note, I had various reactions. One of them was fear. That I would actually, really have to go to Disneyland some day. I know the resistance is irrational. In fact, I just went through the same process with the minivan. Last month, we finally joined the rest of the parents world and bought a minivan. No big deal, right?
Except that we swore we would never do that. While friends of ours started sliding open the big, walk-in doors the minute thay had an infant, we swore that we would not go down that uber-comfy road. It wasn’t that we were too cool. Just a strange stubborn, illogical resistance — exactly like my resistance to Disneyland. So, now I love the minivan, of course.
The kids practically have their own rooms back there. I guess my question is, why do I resist the happiest place on Earth? I have never, ever heard of anyone going there and not having the time of their life. I’m quite sure I’d enjoy it just as much as I now enjoy my super-spacious, comfy minivan.
I guess somehow I feel I’m being manipulated — and not just by my kids. When my hubby posted this same note up on Facebook, the response was entirely one-sided. The general theme boiled down to: “What? Why have you not taken your kids to Disneyland yet?”Good question.
Much as I like to think we should go explore medieval castles in Europe, or trek the Himalayas, I guess I have to accept that where we’re at right now is Disneyland. And a minivan. (Excuse while I set my coffee into one of these 12, conveniently-placed cupholders.) And maybe that’s not such a bad thing.