A Question of Hands

Patrick is at Zoo Camp this week at the Toronto Zoo. So, at 3:30 every day this week, I have to go to the zoo with the rest of the kids to pick him up. There is nowhere to park close enough to the pickup point for me to feel comfortable leaving three kids in the car, so everybody gets out of the car with me and rides in the Choo-Choo Wagon to get Patrick. And, since they know the zoo, they do not want to turn around and go back to the car once we have met him. So, for this week, after I pick Patrick up, I am taking everybody into the zoo to see a few animals and then have a picnic supper.

I cannot cope with having all four kids running around since none of them are very good at following instructions with me when excited or tired. The only way to keep my kids safe is to have most of the little ones in the wagon for most of the trip. This is ceasing to be acceptable to the little ones, who believe that, at the ripe old age of two, they are capable of anything. My compromise is to let them stand up in the parked wagon to look at some of the animals and to let them get out and push the wagon in very controlled areas of the zoo. Once today, I got into a situation where I thought maybe I had been too adventurous, but a couple of helpful parents in the vicinity meant that nothing ever got dangerous.

This is such a contrast to two weeks ago when Andy's parents were with us. For two weeks, we had one adult per child. Trips to fun places were almost easy. We were able to go to the Ontario Science Centre, which is impossible with one adult and scary with two. We went to two waterfront parks, a beach, and an outdoor swimming pool - all impossible with even two adults. We walked to get ice-cream. We went to Canada Day celebrations and didn't even get the wagon out of the car.

With one adult per child, we can do all the things that I want to do with small children. With two sets of hands, there are new parks we are willing to try, and nature walks we are willing to undertake, but we don't dare try new activities near water or in crowds unless we think everybody will stay in the wagon. And, when it is just me, I am reluctant to try much in the way of new activities.

It really is a question of the number of hands. I can handle a lot of adventures by myself when the kids are in good moods, but if one is overly-exuberant, one is in a bad mood, or anything minor goes wrong, things can get ugly in a hurry. And, with 4 kids in the mix, 3 of them "terrible twos," too many things can go wrong for me to be comfortable taking many risks with adventures outside the house without help.