05.16.2010
Went to Disneyland today with my sister to celebrate her birthday and I was astounded at how many newborns were brought to the park. Not just that, but there were a number of pregnant women there too. I guess an argument can be that when you’re pregnant you can’t stop living your life, but I don’t understand the newborn thing. In either scenario, you, the adult, are paying full price to get into the park. And it’s not cheap. Plus, someone doesn’t get to go on the rides because someone has to stay with the baby. So you’re ostensibly paying $72 to babysit your own kid. Couldn’t you do something else as a family that wouldn’t cost so much money? I can’t imagine going to Disneyland as a family until our kid is old enough to appreciate it (meaning, old enough to take in the wonder and “magic” of the place. A newborn sleeps, eats, and craps). This isn't necessarily a criticism cause, hell, it's not my money. People are completely entitled to spend their money and their time however they see fit. But I will say this, though. I was kinda glad I didn’t have to deal with a tired child at the end of the night. Getting out of the car and collapsing into my bed was about as much as I could handle. And knowing that moments like that where I’m taking care of just myself are maybe drawing to a close, I relished every second of it.
When I was in college, I used to grade ESL exams at a high school downtown. One of the essay topics on the exam was "The Most Beautiful Place You've Ever Been." The top two answers were without question Disneyland and Las Vegas.
ReplyDeleteI guess if you consider either of those places to be the most beautiful place you've ever been, you will have no problem blowing a wad of money to take your newborn there, even if he/she just sleeps and poops the whole time, and you can't go on any rides.
Takes all kinds...
those are the 2 places that feed right into the myth of the american dream and both depend on fantasy in which to function. disneyland sells "main street, usa" that tells us to strive for perfection and beauty and las vegas sells us the quick buck; the possibility of striking it rich quickly. i'm not surprised students from other countries considered those 2 places to be the most beautiful. it's why people come to america, right? to attain the "american dream" of money, of happiness, of freedom....of perfection. we have managed to be so successful in marketing this image over hundreds of years that our own citizens are convinced it's attainable...
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