Tantrums

Near the end of our visit to the Sciencenter this late afternoon, we made our way back to the museum's lobby.

"Ride it! Dinosaur!"

OK. I helped Ryland climb on the dinosaur skeleton and started thinking about our exit strategy.

Ry's grin quickly disappeared as we watched the next 3 kids from 3 families throwing temper tantrums one right after another when the parents failed to convince them to leave willingly. Ryland got very concerned for his cohorts as he watched them cry and scream. I tried to explain to him that they weren't hurt. They just didn't want to go home!

With so many cool exhibits merely steps away from the door, who would want to go home? All the crying and screaming spoiled Ryland's mood. He climbed down from his dinosaur, said "all done," and started heading for the door. Whew!

On the 5 minute drive home, I thought about how the museum should re-arrange the lobby to create a little buffer area where parents could get their overly excited kids to quiet down and ready to leave, and how lucky I was not having to drag him out of there kicking like the other parents.

Well, after we pulled into the driveway, I opened Ryland's car door and started unbuckle him from the seat.

"Waaaaaaa! Go to Sciencenter! Go to Sciencenter! No go home!"