My kids have never been to Chuck E Cheese. It's not that I'm against high-price, crappy pizza or anything, but it always seems like sort of an (expensive/annoying/aggrevating) ordeal. It's also one of those things I put off as long as possible, because I know the day it enters my house, it's not going away.
That holds true for American Girl, Hannah Montana (a name Carolyn knows, even if she doesn't know what a "Hannah Montana" is) and Wal-Mart. You know, all the things I don't like.
But, like I said about our dear young friend Miss Miley, Carolyn picks up bits and pieces of the forbidden all the time. And PBS, which doesn't have commercials but does have "sponsors," makes regular references to Chuck E Cheese. The other day, Carolyn asked me if we could go there. I asked her why.
"It's where a kid can be a kid," she correctly mimics from 4 + years of Caillou sponsorships.
Advertisers are pure evil.
But she gets it everywhere. She remembers once Steve said, after having read a news story about it, that people get into more fights at Chuck E. Cheese than any other restaurant. Apparently, beer, video games and a "tell your kid to get off that game so my kid can play" mentality spell disaster.
It's a place for kids and fights. I'm starting to wonder if maybe we're missing out.
And it's not just pizza restaurant banter we have to worry about. Steve wanted to catch up on the Gaza attacks last night, and I reminded him it wasn't something we should be watching in front of Carolyn. Steve couldn't understand my reluctance to expose her to bombing footage. Just go ahead, he said, and explain the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But then I'd have to go ahead and explain silly little terms like "missile fire," "full-scale invasion" and "decades of Israeli-Palestinian fighting," just to get started with an Associated Press story. I'd probably need a scholar with me if I decided to read her any account from the New York Times.
"Mommy, what's a militant?" Forget it. Hannah Montana marathon anyone?
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