"Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." -- unknown

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results - Albert Einstein

Fireworks
July 18, 2010 - 2:27 pm

I went with the girl I'm seeing... which probably deserves a whole entry unto itself. And her kids, brother, and cousin. The one kid, 5yrs old, wasn't too happy about fireworks. He hadn't liked them in the past, but well... there we all were.

There was a little carnival thing going on too, so some rides and games and such. About 7pm, a small storm cell came through and made everyone run for cover as rain fell and lightning flashed. It only lasted a few minutes and it was all over.

Anyway.. around 9, we setup the blankets to sit and watch the fireworks. His mom and uncle kept telling the 5yr how he'd be safe and it was ok... and the boy simply wasn't buying it. He wasn't complaining, other than to ask, can we go yet? He had his fingers stuck in his ears a good 45 minutes before the fireworks started.

Over and over they kept trying to convince him he'd enjoy the fireworks. It really started to irk me. The more you tell a kid how safe he is... the more you are stressing that he's right to be scared. You're making it a bigger and bigger deal. He already knows he doesn't like them -- or at least thinks he doesn't. You can't convince him otherwise. You just can't.

So I told Mom and Uncle to stop, to let him be.. he was just sitting there in Mom's lap and doing nothing other than sticking fingers in his ears. Just.. let him sit. He's already nervous about being in a sea of strangers.. and knowing fireworks are coming. He has no idea when.. and it's well past his normal bedtime.

Anyway... he kept his fingers in his ears the whole time. He watched.. but said he didn't like them.

From our vantage point, most of the fireworks exploded over the top of a tree that was by itself. He said, at one point, "I didn't know fireworks came from trees" and that's exactly what it looked like. Gotta love things kids say!

Anyway. That's my pointless fireworks story.