It’s a fair bet that the birthday boy will avoid his parents
I am no numerologist, but with Friday’s date being 10-01-10,
that’s got to mean something, right? One zero, zero one, one zero.
Ooh, crazy.
Let’s hope it’s not another one of those days when computers are
going to stop working or the world is supposed to end, because I
have tickets to the San Benito County Fair and my oldest son is
turning 16.
It’s a fair bet that the birthday boy will avoid his parents
I am no numerologist, but with Friday’s date being 10-01-10, that’s got to mean something, right? One zero, zero one, one zero. Ooh, crazy.
Let’s hope it’s not another one of those days when computers are going to stop working or the world is supposed to end, because I have tickets to the San Benito County Fair and my oldest son is turning 16.
It’s not like we’re going to pal around Bolado Park like in the old days when he’d visit the various booths in the exhibition hall to see how many free pencils, balloons and bumper stickers he could collect.
He likes hanging with his old man most of the time. Walking around the fair, where there will be plenty of other teenagers, will not be one of those times.
My wife and I know we are the financing and transportation service for our children when it’s fair time – heck, any time. We’ll go our way and they’ll go theirs, and if we happen to pass each other near the livestock auction or the 4-H booths, we’ll acknowledge each other and Mom and Dad will remind them not to spend their money on junk food – unless it’s a corn dog.
I eat one corn dog a year and it’s always at the fair.
The good thing about the fair being on my son’s birthday weekend is that it will likely serve as the venue for the celebration of his milestone birthday.
There is no Sweet 16 party for boys, so the celebration will be far from lavish. In fact, as is the wont of many teens depending on the time of day, he just gave a shrug and a harumph when asked if we should plan anything for him and his friends.
It’s not that he doesn’t want us to acknowledge the big 1-6; it’s that he’s worried his parents will get all corny during the celebration of it. He would much prefer to hang out with his friends and ride the Tilt-A-Whirl at the carnival than have cake and ice cream while wearing a party hat in the kitchen at home. We understand.
He probably wants cake and ice cream – who wouldn’t? He just doesn’t want his goofy parents and various relatives eating into his socializing time by delaying his visit to the fair.
Come to think of it, he’s doing us a favor by being a typical teen. In the early birthday years, we rented bounce houses and bought big, fancy cakes and party favors for our sons’ birthdays. It could get expensive.
Now, getting him into the fair and giving him a little spending money might suffice as a birthday celebration. I might even splurge and buy myself a second corn dog.
My wife and I last year had the fairgrounds to ourselves, so to speak, as our two teenage boys set off on their own once we got out of the car. Now we know what to expect.
We can say hello to friends and enter raffles and tell each other this is the year that we should get a family portrait done after seeing a display booth offering that service. We can watch hypnotist Steve Bayner work his magic and look at cars that we can’t afford, taking our time without having the boys begging us to take them to the carnival.
The need for freedom and separation from parents grows stronger as the years go on, particularly for a newly-minted 16-year-old at the fair. He still needs us around – he can’t drive to the fair with his permit unless we’re in the car and those carnival passes aren’t cheap for a high school sophomore.
We’ll give him his space and he’ll give us ours. When our time at Bolado is through, we’ll all get in the same car and share our stories about who we saw and what we ate. And the 16-year-old will shed his teenage persona and once again become our son.
Adam Breen writes a blog at http://thebreenblog.blogspot.com and teaches newspaper and yearbook classes at San Benito High School. He is a reporter for The Pinnacle and former editor of the Free Lance.
