First of all how amazing is this slide? It’s over 300 feet long (and inclusive for people who use Cochlear Implants)
But when we finally got here, WB was not into it.
Maybe this has happened to you too. We plan something we think our kids will love or we think is important and it flops. Or…our kids ask the dreaded question…
”Can we go home?” Or “can I just use my phone?” or “I wanna watch TV”
I’ve been there and it’s hard. But blaming the screen (or whatever they’re asking for) won’t help solve this situation.
A reframe that’s really helped me is remembering that my job as a parent isn’t just to give my child an experience they will enjoy right now. My job is also to ensure they will have fond memories and experiences to look back on.
Kids are, understandably, not thinking about memories they’ll have in the future. They’re thinking about what they want to experience NOW.
But adults are often thinking about making memories for the future.
The reality is- these aren’t mutually exclusive! We can give our kids the things they enjoy in the present AND experiences they will look back on fondly. If that means leaving the pool early to watch TV, chances are they’ll remember the pool AND how special it felt to watch TV in a hotel bed.
After all, some of our favorite travel memories as adults are the small things we experienced as kids that our families likely didn’t plan on.
Wanna ride this slide for yourself? It’s at Kodomo no Kuni about an hour west of Tokyo. It cost $10 for all three of us to get in and we could have spent multiple days here. It’s an incredible place.
NOTE: this slide has been changed since this video was filmed. It is still just as long (and now safer with reinforcement/cages around the slide for the whole length) but the roller bars are now all metal, no longer designed with pictures on them, and they go much faster and are rough on the rear end
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