My son loves to get his hands on a map. Since the time he could walk and hold a map at the same time, he has happily led me through many zoos, aquariums, and amusement parks. I use to think it was adorable, and secretly thought I had a little cartographer in training.
But nowadays, I wish I could hide the map. I know it sounds crazy, but I don’t always want to spend eight hours at a park. I’m fine with missing one little exhibit here and there. It’s quality over quantity, or something like that. But that’s hard to do when you have Marco Polo guiding you through Sea World.
I would like to hide the map, or say that the aquarium has gone “green” and decided to not print maps. But I know I won’t get away with that. So we have worked out a sort of compromise: get through most of the maps’ quadrants, but not see every exhibit, or go on every ride. My little explorer still gets to conquer, and I get to leave an amusement park with a little of my sanity still intact. And if the compromising thing doesn’t work out, there’s still good old-fashioned bribery.
Thankfully my kids run out of energy MILES before I do–I would weep if they insisted on seeing every single attraction. This is a funny post Carolina! Marco Polo in Sea World indeed.
Oh so lucky Jamie, I wish my guy would run out of energy. Actually he does, but I think it’s that map that keeps him chugging even when he can’t.