A New Thrill Shared
I have only the vaguest recollection of not being allowed to ride a roller coaster because I was too small, although I do remember not liking it, and I especially remember the excitement of finally getting to ride one.
It's something of a milestone to finally "initiate" my son into the world of roller-coasting; after a couple of kiddie coaster rides a couple of years ago, I finally took him on a "real" roller-coaster in the form of the Festival Mall coaster, something I had only ever ridden once, years before he was born, and which I developed a hankering to take him on every time he wanted to ride the train downstairs.
It was a real joy to finally take him for a ride, almost eight years since the last time I had ridden
the roller coaster myself, and it felt good knowing it was one more thing he and I could do together.
Of course, it's not as if I ride roller coasters everyday or even more than once every few months, but the important thing is that whenever I hop on one of those things (and I still like to) I can now take someone to whom the exhilaration is still novel and fresh. In fact, it helps that I don't go all that often.
The generation gap between myself and my son is not quite as difficult for me as it may be for many people considering that I'm very much a child at heart, even at 32. I still read comic books and buy toy cars, and have a heightened tolerance for the cartoons my kids watch, though I still make it a point to police some of them. For all of that, however, it's still an incredible challenge for me to understand how kids think; how life is a lot simpler for them than it is for me, particularly in terms of their thought processes. The challenge, and often the frustration comes in not being able to understand those thought processes, like, why does he hurt his sister? Why does he stand on things that might break? Why does he throw something away rather than let me take it from him to prevent him breaking it? Things like that.
The classic dilemmas of any parent, of course.
Bearing this in mind, every little thing that helps reduce the gap helps. Wow, I went off-tangent there.
But seriously, there's really something special about sharing and enjoying the knuckle-whitening experience of the roller coaster ride that creates a little bit of bonding.
It's too bad my wife hates them...
It's something of a milestone to finally "initiate" my son into the world of roller-coasting; after a couple of kiddie coaster rides a couple of years ago, I finally took him on a "real" roller-coaster in the form of the Festival Mall coaster, something I had only ever ridden once, years before he was born, and which I developed a hankering to take him on every time he wanted to ride the train downstairs.
It was a real joy to finally take him for a ride, almost eight years since the last time I had ridden
the roller coaster myself, and it felt good knowing it was one more thing he and I could do together.
Of course, it's not as if I ride roller coasters everyday or even more than once every few months, but the important thing is that whenever I hop on one of those things (and I still like to) I can now take someone to whom the exhilaration is still novel and fresh. In fact, it helps that I don't go all that often.
The generation gap between myself and my son is not quite as difficult for me as it may be for many people considering that I'm very much a child at heart, even at 32. I still read comic books and buy toy cars, and have a heightened tolerance for the cartoons my kids watch, though I still make it a point to police some of them. For all of that, however, it's still an incredible challenge for me to understand how kids think; how life is a lot simpler for them than it is for me, particularly in terms of their thought processes. The challenge, and often the frustration comes in not being able to understand those thought processes, like, why does he hurt his sister? Why does he stand on things that might break? Why does he throw something away rather than let me take it from him to prevent him breaking it? Things like that.
The classic dilemmas of any parent, of course.
Bearing this in mind, every little thing that helps reduce the gap helps. Wow, I went off-tangent there.
But seriously, there's really something special about sharing and enjoying the knuckle-whitening experience of the roller coaster ride that creates a little bit of bonding.
It's too bad my wife hates them...
posted by Jim Arroyo | 2:09 PM
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