Reality TV and The Amazing Race

The Amazing Race has long been my favorite reality show out there.  I love it.  There have been along the way a few moments that just make me shake my head.  The kind where I want to shout out: "You are on the Amazing Race people! What were you thinking"
There are a few things that contestants going on the Amazing Race should do before getting to the race and it blows me away that they don't come prepared.
1.  Get in Shape people.  I know I prefer sitting and reading to working out.  But if I ever got that call letting me know I was going to be on the race, you know I would be on that treadmill so fast.  Speed is key and you can't go huffing and puffing up a staircase thinking you are going to win any leg, never mind the race itself.
2. Learn to drive stick.  I don't know how to drive a manual car.  I learned on a automatic and have driven automatic for 20 years.  But I also know that most countries in the world don't rely on automatics.  And cars on the race are usually, if not always stick shift.
3. Learn to swim.  I can't believe how many racers to not know how to swim, or, have a fear of water.  Yet, there is almost always a water challenge.  This I could do.  I am a pretty decent swimmer.
4. Face your fear of heights.  Every race has a height challenge of some sort.  They have parachuted and skydived and ziplined around the world.  I admit this would be my biggest challenge, but I would work at it before the race so it wasn't such a big challenge during.
5.  Mind your manners.  This one really, really bothers me.  There have been some very rude, disrespectful contestants on the race.  You are going around the world, be prepared for things to be different than home.
 

Be Nice - a little Mama venting

Once a week this year my oldest child has had an after school sports activity where there are a lot of other children involved. Part of parenting is dealing with the wait time with the younger siblings. Keep them busy, keep them entertained, keep them from complaining they are bored waiting for their brother. I usually come prepared with a few toys (and a bonus one in my purse just in case) and a couple of snacks. There are of course other younger siblings waiting in the common area for their older brothers and sisters to finish sports so we can go. The younger siblings have been okay with this. As kids do they come up with their own classic games to pass the time: follow the leader, races and tag being the favorites. What I don't get is the parents who blatantly ignore the younger siblings all together. For me it's a no brainer, I can keep an eye on my older son's sports while still supervising my younger children. Many of the other mothers don't seem to see it that way. They take the time to gossip and text instead.
This can get increasingly annoying.  Often, I would take my 2 little ones to another part of the sports complex for a change of scene and to keep them out of the line of fire of the 'unwatched' children.
A couple of weeks ago, my kids were having a great time playing with these other kids.  And then this little boy came over and grabbed my daughter's arm and squeezed as hard as he could.  My daughter screamed and ran to me crying and said, "no like little boy" (they are both 2).  I told her she didn't have to play with him, just stay away from him, she could just sit with Mommy instead for a while.  My other child continued to play.  As soon as my daughter was soothed she wanted to rejoin the fun.  Well the poor thing, this little boy must have had some interest in my little girl because he ran right up to her again and did the same thing.  The mother paid no attention.  I thought about moving my kids but there was this part of me thinking, "why should my kids miss out on playing with other kids just because this one mom won't take responsibility?" So I gave it one more chance.
Sure enough it happened again.  This time the mother noticed my daughter crying, not her son grabbing and hurting her.   She asked me what was wrong and I told her.  Her response?  "Be nice!" to her son.  That was it.  "Be nice".  Be nice?  Seriously, that's it?  He's 2!  What does "Be nice" mean to him?  Absolutely nothing!  There's no consequence in that!  There's no teaching in that.  Be nice is a nothing!  So frustrating!  It was at this point, I took my kids and moved somewhere else.  I felt bad that my son had to leave his fun times with tag, but I couldn't put my daughter through that again.  I mean what else are you going to do?  It isn't my job to discipline and monitor other people's children.  That was two weeks ago, since then, I haven't bothered going to that common area at all (although my son would like to), we go somewhere else, where I know we aren't going to have to deal with that.  Seriously - take responsibility for your children!
Here's what would "Be Nice"
-it would be nice if you watched your kid
-it would be nice if you put your phone away
-it would be nice if you gave your kid a consequence for hurting my kid
-it would be nice if you took your kid for a walk so my kids could play without fear
-it would be nice told your kid to keep his hands to himself
-it would be nice if you said "no grabbing"
-it would be nice if you said "grabbing hurts"
-it would be nice if you were paying attention so you could stop your kid from hurting mine

 

*on a side note, I know I'm not the perfect parent by any means so I usually don't rag out about other parents, but this has been driving me nuts for a while and needed to be said!

Returning Stuff

Today I went to "Unnamed Large Department Store" to return 4 pairs of pants I had bought for my 4 year old. Do you know why I had to return 4 pairs of pants? Because they shrank in the wash. Not just a little bit - a lot! Like from a size 5 (which he needs) to about a size 3 (which he hasn't worn in a year and a half). I was seriously disappointed because it took me forever to find pants for him that were reasonable and kid friendly (check one point for large city living, down one for the small town). Fortunately, he had only worn 3 of these pants so the 4th pair was unwashed and you could see the difference. I'm talking 4 inches of fabric difference. When he tried them on at the store, they were too long for him. The first time he wore them, I folded over the waist to make them fit him better. When he put them on after washing they were halfway between his ankles and knees. Crazy. Of course I didn't have the receipt. It took me forever to find pants that fit that he liked. I've been buying little boy pants for over 7 years now and I've never seen this happen. No problem (or so I thought). The store policy says, "Items returned without a receipt will be given and in store credit for the lowest most recent price". Totally fine by me. I paid clearance price anyway. Very politely, I brought the pants up to the children's department counter. I explained that I would like to return these pants because they shrank too much. The clerk barks at me, "Did you follow the washing instructions correctly?" "Yes, I did" (laundry I can do) I unfolded the pants to show her the size difference. "Well these are different pants from each other" she says "No, they are the same brand, same size" "Oh, well, do you have a receipt?" "No, I don't have it anymore, I've never had this happen before and wasn't planning on returning them" "Well, you NEED a receipt you know" Okay would someone please explain to me why the attitude? I have no problem with her. I am returning pants from her store. I'm not rejecting her, just the pants. But I bite my tongue and restrain myself from taking the return policy sign that is right there on her counter and hitting her over the head with it, and she storms away to another sales counter. I wait. She returns and starts typing numbers into her computer. "Well, I can only give you $4.99 a pair for them and only on store credit" She looks at me, almost daring to object. "That's fine" I smile back at her. After I left, I kept thinking about this. I remember when I was younger, I was so nervous returning things to a store. And this is why, I'm sure of it. There have been others who work in sales who give you such a hard time about returning things. I remember returning one pair of jeans I bought when I was in University and the sales lady there said, "Well, I don't know if I could put these back on the rack now and sell them." (These were jeans with the tags and I had the receipt, so I really don't know what her problem was). Maybe dealing with returns is frustrating, but it doesn't have to be. Many stores have these great "no hassle" return policies and they should. You shouldn't be barked at, or talked down to because you need to return something. Today, I made a reasonable request. I needed to return something because the merchandise was faulty. Had these pants been normal pants I wouldn't have returned them. If your goal is to keep your customers happy so they will continue to be your customers, then please, treat them like people!