<p>musicamusica:
That says it all!</p>
<p>Come to think of it, I just realized that there are photos on our mantle of our kids and their dad on amusement park rides where the ride takes a photo as they descend some big incline and are screaming. Priceless.</p>
<p>musicamusica, I really don’t think you can generalize the one engineer you happen to know to pegging this as the problem with the OP. My husband (and his father) and both my sons are engineers.Trust me , husband and sons all know how to have fun and love amusement parks. We have tons of pictures of smiling kids on all types of funny rides over the years. Have taken them to many different amusement parks over the years as well as museums, national parks, historical stuff, camping,etc. Heck,my husband and I even have season passes to Busch Gardens Williamsburg and we are in our 50’s!</p>
<p>I have to share one of my mom’s memories of me at the county fair when I was little. One of my favorite kiddie rides was the little boats on water. I was barely old enough to go on rides alone and I guess the water triggered potty time in my head. Every time I went around and saw my mom, I shouted “I wet my pants! I wet my pants!” I think my mom just waved and hoped no one would connect her to me. Now, when we laugh about it, we almost wet out pants.</p>
<p>Come to think of it, I just realized that there are photos on our mantle of our kids and their dad on amusement park rides where the ride takes a photo as they descend some big incline and are screaming. Priceless.</p>
<p>I have the same kind of picture too and whenever we break it out my girls and I laugh and laugh. 
My kids don’t even like roller coasters but they love amusement parks. OP - adding my voice to the chorus of people here who are encouraging you to let loose a little and let them ride some rides. And get cotton candy.</p>
<p>I want a sno cone.</p>
<p>Sevmom—I come from a long line of engineers. My Dad went to Purdue and got his masters in mechanical engineering. You have never met a more generous free spirited loving guy in your life. Circus’s, county fairs, crappy parking lot carnivals and dangerous roller coasters were his passion.
I mentioned the engineer part in the desperate hope that engineer4life might find some connection.</p>
<p>Thank you for the explanation, musicamusica.It may have helped then if you had prefaced your remarks with that info. Engineers sometimes get a bad rap and I don’t think implying things about a particular group of people or profession helps.</p>
<p>I agree…apologies to all engineers! In my business I interact with them all day. I couldn’t be doing this for over 25 years without relying on the good ones!</p>
<p>$%^$%^$%^$%!!! ENGINEERS ROCK MY WORLD !!!$%^$%^$%^</p>
<p>Musicamusica, I do get what you are getting at. My H is an engineer and we took our kids to tons of stuff. Amusement parks, museums, you name it. One of favorite memories is when our local science museum had a Knex exhibit. We went so many time, the hubby getting down with the kids and making creations which we bought and took home.</p>
<p>He does not, will not buy food at the movies. Just thinks its a waste of money. He was happy to take the kids but he would not buy them popcorn and candy. The kids liked going with their Aunt cuz she would buy them tons of crap.</p>
<p>Now I don’t think the kids were harmed by not getting salty expensive food. Do I think they remember that dad won’t buy food at the movies, absolutely! </p>
<p>But maybe all of us need to remember to buy that face paint. Such a small thing with a big payout.</p>
<p>First of all, some of you are borderline mean, and certainly not nice. </p>
<p>Let me explain in a different way. I like amusement park rides. I think they are fun. When my kids are large enough that we can do rides together, I would enjoy doing that. </p>
<p>What I do not like is pay per ride. I think that is wasteful because a good day at the amusement park would be like 40 rides, or $200 at $5/ride, and that is way too much money. </p>
<p>However, if you buy an all day wristband at $21 or $14 (depends on the county fair), it’s a heck of a bargain. And I’m happy to do amusement rides if I’m getting a bargain. </p>
<p>Now my wife probably won’t do a lot of rides because she can’t handle the motion. So tickets for her might make sense. But she would say “I would like to do these 3”, and when the 3 are up, I know that she will actually be done and not ask for 5 more and then 2 more and then be disappointed if the answer was no. Or maybe she’d find enough to warrant a wristband and then we’d all do the rides as a family for as long as we wanted.</p>
<p>The point isn’t that I don’t want to provide the experience for my kids. I’ve been clear about that since post #1. The point is that the county fair we go to doesn’t do wristbands, so I don’t want to do 1 or 2 rides because I think the carnival experience is about spending several hours doing rides. And then, I have to see if we have time in our schedule for a separate day of rides at a different place that does wristbands.</p>
<p>From your posts, it sounds like this would be time well spent, and I don’t mind spending the time doing that, but as a parent, i do need to set priorities and plan out the summer and figure out what activities we will do. As parents, each of you do that all summer long. perhaps you don’t ask questions like these on online forums, but it is something that every parent has to do - manage time and money to provide the maximum experience for your kids.</p>
<p>Well, deb922,my engineer husband was much more open with the wallet with buying things at places like the movies,baseball games,amusement parks than their social worker by profession mom ever was! Maybe it’s time to get back to talking about amusement parks , fairs, and fun family stuff as opposed to focusing on the OP being an engineer. I think the OP probably already feels a little beat up on.</p>
<p>So again, I ask you, engineer4life, are you planning to let your kids see but not experience the rides? If so, pick another activity because that is ugly and kids remember unpleasant experiences as long as good ones.</p>
<p>What about that amusement park that was mentioned ( I think by emeraldkity) . Is that an option?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is a very different point than what you originally wrote:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It’s difficult to offer advice when you keep changing your story.</p>
<p>Now if you could manage to get on 40 rides in a day at Disneyland or Knott’s that would be quite a feat. ;)</p>
<p>If you are not opposed to amusement rides, and the ticket per ride is the issue…there are several alternatives:</p>
<p>1) Tell the kids that you are going to the exhibits at the fair and only have time or money for five rides and let them pick the rides. </p>
<p>2) Tell the kids at this fair, you can only do the exhibits but you have bought tickets to XYZ fair that lets you come all day (on another date) and follow through on that. </p>
<p>3) Don’t go to this fair at all (there is a tease aspect if they see the rides and can’t go on them) and plan a day at a park that uses a one price for all day entrance instead. </p>
<p>That’s all simple solutions. Some of your posts implied that amusements were optional in life and you were not keen on spending the time or money on them. </p>
<p>It doesn’t have to be ALL or NOTHING.</p>
<p>This will come up time and again while raising kids. Say your kid is taking ballet and you can afford one ballet outfit for classes and her friends have five different leotard outfits. Simple…honey, we can get you ONE and so pick out the one you like the best. The end.</p>
<p>By the way, you don’t have all day anyway to go on the rides as you are spending part of the day looking at the fair exhibits and such and so that is also easy for kids to understand: “we only have time for five rides.”</p>
<p>“Now my wife probably won’t do a lot of rides because she can’t handle the motion. So tickets for her might make sense. But she would say “I would like to do these 3”, and when the 3 are up, I know that she will actually be done and not ask for 5 more and then 2 more and then be disappointed if the answer was no.”</p>
<p>Not sure how you meant this, as much can be lost in these kind of postings. but, just wondering, are you saying that your wife would have to ask you if she would be able to go on additional rides if say she did want more than the allotted three?</p>
<p>also, so many posters have suggested simply limiting the time or number or rides, thereby compromising your desires with your kids, but you come back to this it’s a wristband or nothing. and 40 rides sounds kind of over the top, as most kids would be happy to go on 3 rides as part of a family day at a fair.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’m trying to understand your point of view but it just does not hang together for me. What I’m hearing is. </p>
<ul>
<li>I like option A (inexpensive wristbands and spending all day taking rides)</li>
<li>However option A is not available</li>
<li>A bunch of poster have offered options B through Z</li>
<li>And you response is … I like option A … and since it is not available it’s a no go.</li>
</ul>
<p>As a parent with my kids I believe teaching them to pick the best of available options will make their life much easier … and to not get stuck on the option not available. (Going to the main point of the CC web site … a somewhat equivalent is student wanting to go to Harvard, being rejected by Harvard and having acceptances to Brown, Hopkins, and Cornell … and when making their final decision saying I won’t go anywhere because I want to go to Harvard).</p>
<p>I have the impression if option A was available and you had the wristbands and that if you kids only wanted to go on only one ride that this would really bother you … that if you’ve bought the wristband then they should rides lots of times … that your version of how the day should go is the only acceptable option. I get everyone has different ideas about what is a value for the money … this is where it fails for me. If you’re willing to pay $20 bucks for a wristband I have a hard time understanding why you will not spend $20 for 4-5 rides if your kids really want to take them. However efficient or inefficient each expense is in your opinion both options have the exact same affect on your wallet … to me you’re essentially saying kids you must share my value system about what is fun even overriding their individual choices.</p>
<p>Of course YMMV and each family makes decisions their own way … your approach varies from Mom3ToGo and I along almost every dimension even though we are two of the most frugal people around.</p>