Whenever something embarrassing happens one often thinks, "Should I not say anything and pretend like this never happened? Or, should I share my embarrassing story, so that others can learn from my mistake(s)?" Being a teacher my philosophy is that you need to just bite the bullet and share. It's better to learn from the experience than to avoid it.
Yesterday we (Maiki and I) went to Lagoon with my mom, three brothers, and four nephews. The day started off well. (Maiki was a bit grumpy because we spent the morning swimming with friends and she refused to take a nap.) At Lagoon we decided to divide and conquer, so the kids could have a more enjoyable experience. Josh and Slone took Jon and Merrick, while Ryan, me, and my mom took Maiki, Owen, and Beckham. Everything was going great until I decided to let the munchkins share some fruit snacks. I knew that Maiki was picky, so I grabbed a red one and asked if she wanted it. She refused, and so I gave it to Owen. Once her favorite color was offered to someone else she decided to throw a hissy fit.
Maiki wandered to the edge of the next ride, hugged a trash can (disgusting, I know) and pouted. My mom went over and tried to reason with her. In the meantime Ryan took care of his two kids and I was texting a friend. Maiki looked my mom right in the eye and then sprinted off. I glanced up and didn't worry about it because my mom was following her (she's a little slow because she had her knee replaced). Ryan saw that Maiki was winning and asked if he should run after her; I assumed everything would be fine, so I let Ry stay and started following my mom. By the time I caught up to my mom I realized she had no idea where Maiki was.
The race started in the middle of the Kiddie Zone, right next to the cars (the ones that are on a track). Maiki was lost for 5-10 minutes, even though it felt like 15-30. She made it all the way from the Kiddie Zone to the south end of Lagoon, where they load the sky ride. I finally found her being held by a Lagoon employee who was in the process of taking her to the lost and found. (Why do they take lost children to the place where you would drop off lost sunglasses?)
It's amazing how much you learn about someone's personality by watching them react in an emergency situation. My mom is caring and emotional and immediately cried when Maiki was found. I was calm, pissed, and relieved. My brothers all stayed calm and did a great job quickly looking for Maiki (even though the big boys were on the Samurai). Maiki was the shocker. Every day I am amazed by how brave (and stubborn) she is. When I finally found her she did not care. She didn't care that a stranger was holding her, she didn't care that her mom was worried, and worse of all she seemed to enjoy wandering half of Lagoon ALONE. I asked her why she ran away and she explained that she was upset and wanted to find her uncles. The last time we saw them was near the Wild Mouse, so she went to that end of the park looking for them. I honestly thought that I was going to find Maiki alone in line for a ride, or attempting to sneak on stage (a group was performing near the carousel).
I guess I turn into a neglectful parent whenever my mom and brothers are around. I know that they'll chase after Maiki, so I usually sit back and let them. I learned a valuable lesson yesterday: put the phone down and pay attention to your kid!
