I may have ruined my kids

I took my kids on a fabulous vacation. Not news. This happens all the time, or so it seems.

I pride myself on organizing incredible travel adventures for my family and each one has generally had something pretty magical and memorable happen. (On a bargain budget.)

Like the time we went to the Atlantis Resort (Nassau, Bahamas) and I used my Canadian charm to get an invitation to a private, backstage aquarium tour of one of the largest and most incredible aquatic collections on earth. (5 feet away from a rare Tiger Shark)  And also,  front row tickets to the Katy Perry concert at the same hotel the next day.

Or the time we got bumped from a (Delta) flight and ended up overnight in Atlanta and landed tickets behind home plate to a sold-out playoff baseball game.

Or the time we happened to meet and chat with legendary hockey star Teemu Selanne and the rest of the Anaheim Ducks.

Yeah, looking back at it this way, it does seem that I've set the bar pretty high. But... believe me, it's all been timing. Or timing, a little Canadian charm and dumb luck.  But it's come back to bite me in the ass now anyway.

This year I planned, what I thought was going to be, a family-fun adventure to Disneyland and then a couple relaxing days in Newport Beach, California.  I thought this sounded pretty great. Turns out my kids thought it was "boring and lame" and were not impressed. Insulted, I retorted that they were ungrateful,  demanding, spoiled and had a inappropriate sense of entitlement. I told them that "any child or adult would LOVE to trade places with them and if they can't be happy at the happiest place on earth, then I'm certainly not going to plan any future vacations for them."

Who's really to blame here?  Me, obviously.

It hurt that I didn't see their eyes light up on Main Street Disneyland. Never once did they gasp, "Look mom, it's Pluto or Mickey Mouse!" Instead all I heard, over and over was, "what's next? Why are we doing this ride again? When can I get a lemonade? Why can't you get me a fastpass?"

The kids aren't even teenagers yet. We can't blame hormones, or peers or even the media. (LOL. Aren't these the usual scapegoats?) So, I've ruined what I had hoped were kind, polite, charming, humble, worldly little people.

There's hope yet. I mean, I turned out ok. (Better than OK if you ask my mom.) The only vacations I saw as a kid were "get in the stationwagon/van/car, we're driving to Grandma's house/campground/Mount Rushmore/Grand Forks for a few days.  Cassette tapes to sing along to and an electric frying pan at the campsite were the highlights of my days. And I DO remember them fondly.

But aren't we ALL doing this nowadays? Air travel, tropical vacations, specialty sport camps and "life experience" travel? I'm pretty sure that we are! I want to see the world.... it can't just be words and pictures on a computer screen.... I want to see and do what other people write about. Bottom line is that the world is a much SMALLER place then when I was a kid, because of the Internet and our ability to connect and share, and research and pursue.  And comparatively much less expensive to travel by air, and much more expensive (than the 90's) to travel by car.  I want to see the world and it is a thrill for me to show my kids. However, my pursuit of travel and magical memories is likely causing an attitude problem in the youngsters.

This isn't over yet. I'm not about to let my kids get away with demanding more and more without giving and learning MORE themselves. So, I'm going to call in the troops.... literally. Time to call on my retired military dad to back me up and set us all straight (me included). I bet he can show my kids a great day without spending $5 and without ever burning an hour in front of a computer or iPod screen. He can easily remind us where our family values begin and end and how we want to and WILL treat others. I haven't fallen far from the stable "oak" tree that is my dad. And I can't imagine (never, ever, ever) giving up on my kids. Time to tackle this problem as a larger family unit and show these boys that  the world is an amazing and incredible classroom and they are merely humble students, blessed to participate.