You mean it's all about the kids, not us?

We took our kids to their first rodeo last night.  My husband and I were both really looking forward to it.  It's been 7 or 8 years since I've been to one, and my husband hasn't been to one since he was probably 11 or 12.  There was a free family fun night beforehand where the kids could do little games and we could eat our picnic dinner.  The kids had a fun time doing several of the little games and winning "prizes" like a helium balloon or new crayons.  By the time the rodeo started it was 6 pm.  Normal bedtime for our kids is 7 pm. 

We sat on the first row, because we didn't know how long they would last. but that meant that anytime someone walked in front of us (which was frequently), we couldn't see what was happening.  The 1 year old couldn't stop squirming and wanted to run around, but there's not much space on bleachers to safely do such a thing.  The two year old wanted to sit on a lap and let his helium balloon on it's long string fly in the faces of the people in the rows behind us.  After about a half hour our 4 year old was asking if she could take a nap. We finally left after about an hour and almost physically restraining our 4 year old to make her stay and watch.

This was one of those moments where you're reminded, once again, as a parent that it's all about the kids, not about you.  If we really wanted to go and just enjoy the rodeo, we should have left the kids home.  If we were going because we wanted our kids to enjoy it and have fun, we probably should have left about 20-30 minutes earlier.  We ended up going back to the family fun party where the 2 year old and 4 year old each got a balloon from the clowns - shaped like a cat and a sword.  I think that was the most memorable part of the night for them.  It was another good reminder of how hard it sometimes is as a parent to be unselfish and do what your child wants to do, rather than what you want to do.