In our family it's illegal to use the words 'retail' and 'therapy' and 'day-out' in the same sentence, unless of course it is a declarative statement like this. We also use the word 'illegal' all the time to mean that something is not allowed, i.e., It is illegal to have a family day-out and then pop into a shop to browse at the sale rack. If you're a fly on our wall, you would hear our children saying, 'Mummy overruled Daddy' or 'You're under arrest!' or 'According to section 2, I can watch TV now'. Yes, our family is in law-enforcement. At home, Zak is a police officer who handcuffs anybody who forgets to flush the toilet. And that included the plumber who only went inside to check the pipes. This morning, Lewis shouted 'murder!' when I said the toilet didn't flush.
Anyway, we went for a day-out today. In the city this time. So we went into museums and galleries. The boys inspected the metallic works of 17th century Sheffield. Spoons, forks, vases, candle holders, tables, knives. Knives! Lewis shouted murder! again. There were exhibitions about knitting and the works of Vivienne Westwood. We ate a lot of pizza and ice cream, took hundreds of photos, gazed in wonder at the architecture of the city, waved at all the double-decker buses, pointed at the trams, played at all the water features and went on a real train. If we had the opportunity, we could have asked to go on a police car just to experience what it's like, but of course it's not possible, unless of course we do something illegal, like trying on the t-shirt of Vivienne Westwood that says 'I'm not a terrorist!' that is on display at the museum at the moment.
(Hello MI5. This is a harmless post. Don't worry! )
We went past shops a lot of times and my eyes strained to look at the display. Wow, nice top... Hey, I love those shoes! But no, this is a family day-out, not a retail bleeding therapy! How could anybody with little children claim to have a 'family outing' and yet the only activity involved is buying clothes? The children are being dragged around while mommy tries on knickers that are obviously too small for her arse. Also, how does shopping become therapeutic? Isn't it stressful? The dress you're looking for is size 10, but you're size 18, so how does that make you feel? Your eyes twinkled when you spotted a Louis Vuitton bag but it costs five times more than your monthly mortgage, so why bother?
Children and shopping don't go together. Show them anything aside from clothes on rails and shoes on racks and they get mystified. Take them around galleries and show them the paintings of your local geniuses and they'll realise the possibility for their doodles at home to be on a space on those walls they're looking at. When they get bored, they'll just say they're hungry.
With Zak and Lewis, we just give them ice cream. It's not illegal on a day-out.
more photos here
9 comments:
family day-out! that's a relaxing pause. last week, we went to an agri fare and louna had a great time caressing chicken, ducks and rabbits, lol.
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thank you.
hello soy...hehehe naigo ko da. sometimes we have a day out then it will end up shopping...mao lagi ang mga bata luoy kaayo. the only one love it kay ang ako bugoy. kay toys man dayon pag makaadto sa shopping center :)
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yikes, I think Zac will give up on me...and Lewis will always scream "blardy murder"...OMG! Buti nalang di uso ang "day-out" samin ng katulad sa inyo, kundi patay talaga ako! But I do agree with you talaga.
p.s. err hindi dahil sa hindi ako nagfla-flush ng toilet ha, hehe
I can't even shop with my husband. He can't survive in any store for longer than five minutes. My grandsons don't mind if I take them to Toys R Us, but that's as far as it goes. I am a born shopper and even enjoy looking around at the grocery store. Therefore, I go by myself. I love the picture. It looks like you guys had a great family day out.
I picked up some nice tips here like "Children and shopping don't go together."
I'm just a little late to realize that, now that my boys are 15, 11 and 4.5 yo. :D
Lovely pictures by the way! :
Soy I visited your site at work but unable to comment.
Diay, my e mail ad s_catalan@msn.com
Enjoy your weekend. Work lagi ko.
I like the pictures! And I agree with you 100% :). Though we do not have kids, but I am always inspired by kids I saw enjoying the outdoors and the museums, those really stir their curious minds, and they even make analysis themselves, and relate what they've read from books to what they see, or look for answers to their questions they formed from outside to the books later. that's what i observe with my niece everytime she joins us here. am sure yo're proud of your kids, they're such witty ones, and trained i think to be :)
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