See the hubs wants to do something fun and actually get away for 5 or 6 days, I think the idea is great, however we have this boy who simply does not deal well with the unknown! Last night hubs and I looked online and found Smuggs...as in Smugglers Notch in Vermont. They have what looks like a great summer vacation set-up...8 heated pools, a 6 acre pond complete with a water trampoline. Each of the 8 heated pools has water slides. There's other activities as well, kids programs, parent programs, things to do as a family and all at around 300 bucks a night. Well this morning I showed Orion the small video on the website thinking it might excite him, that he might think it was something fun to do. Unfortunately about 10 seconds into the video they mention the kids programs and he flips out! He's not going to camp, he's not going to be away from us all day long, he doesn't want to have to be told what to do on his vacation! Of course I tried to explain that he wouldn't have to do the kids programs, that it was just an option that was available, he was too stuck on it to get away from it. I tried to remind him of all the times he had gone snowboarding and wanted to hang out with the other kids at the pool but I wanted to go back to the room and how this could be an opportunity for him to hang out with other kids his age without mom being a drag....not the right answer. I tried to remind him how bored he is every summer and how much he complained last summer about not being able to do anything because we couldn't afford it AND all his friends were away at camp so he had no one to play with...that didn't work either. Nothing I could say or do would deter this boy from the concept that he would be spending his week in misery....who wants to spend a couple thousand dollars for their kid to be completely miserable?? Not me!
I just don't know what to do. I do vaguely recall being a kid and having the same kinds of apprehension, and I recall getting very hostile and angry sounding. I remember being all surly and moody thinking of all the ways things could go bad and not seeing the good at all. I remember thinking the worst of everything, and I thought it was because I was so used to being disappointed that surely nothing good could come to me. I was so wrong...apparently it's something genetic and I don't know how to fix this! I don't know how to turn him around. I don't know exactly what I am doing wrong! I have always tried to encourage him at everything, I have tried to be the positive one but it's so hard! I just don't know what I should do here.
Here's my theory.....since I know that I used to be just like the boy and I can clearly remember my foster parents sending me to 4-H camp and me being determined to hate it...in the end I ended up not even wanting to go home by the end of the week. I think knowing this what I need to do is simply book the vacation, not tell the boy anything other than we are going. We ignore his pouting and fussing and know that in the end he's going to have a great time once he is actually there and sees how much fun it can be. I am betting if we do this he will end up meeting some boy at the pool or pond that's in one of the kids programs and tell Orion all about it and how much fun it is that he'll want to join in the next day. I am betting that no matter how determined he is to be miserable, he'll end up having fun just like I did! The problem will be getting Mr. Patience (aka the hubs) to go along with such a plan. I just don't know if he has the patience to ignore the fussing and grumbling long enough to get us up there and have the boy see for himself that it's really a fun thing to do during the summer.
Me personally...I would give just about anything to go back to Vermont and breath the fresh mountain air of my youth! Maybe I could get Big Sis to come up and visit while we're there. I think it would be great to see her again since I haven't actually seen her (other than in photos) in about 20 years. I am sure if we vacationed up there she would make the trip to come see us and it would be nice to chat with her again face to face. Even if she couldn't make it, it would be nice to build some happy memories with the family and have them happen in Vermont. I'm goi g to have to do a lot of talking, thinking and planning before making the final decisions, but we're gonna have to do it soon since the week hubs has vacation is 4th of July week so it'll probably be more crowded and book up faster than usual.
I gotta get this wild child ready for school...which means getting him off the PS3, so I'm out.
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