I love not telling my kids where we’re going if it’s someplace fun. Just sort of wake them up, give them breakfast and put them in whatever outfits they’re going to need for the event. My daughter doesn’t get it—to her clothes are clothes—but my son understands that swimming trunks serve a different function than ordinary shorts so he starts wondering. It’s great seeing the surprise when we finally get to wherever we’re going—but this post isn’t about mushy curt-like junk like that. It’s about lists.
Lists. I love them. I think everyone loves them. You go to the grocery store and make up a list. You’re planning to buy Amazon stuff but don’t have the money, you make a wish list. You compile the best book collection to own, you create a Listmania list. You come up with a meme and it’ll likely be a list. MCF doesn’t have something to write, he creates a list—everyone interacts. Heck, VH-1 made a businesss of List shows—lists rule!
They rule because everyone likes to see what everyone holds dear while maintaining that their order is better than everyone else’s order. Yeah, some people may not outright say that but somewhere along the back of the mind they strut about their perfectly crafted list until someone mentions an item they missed (thus crushing the perfection of their list) or until a better list configuration comes along that has the person rethinking where things fall.
So with lists being so near and dear to us it’s not surprising that on that two hour drive yesterday with my kids in swimming clothes, I started coming up with some lists. The Most Rockin’ Movies. The Awesomest Books. Top 10 Passenger Cars. Then, all of a sudden I was reminded me of a list of the top 100 wonders that I saw on several sites but I’ll give credit to MCF to raise his link count. My daydreaming mind wasn’t so concerned with the 100 wonders (because at that point, that’s just something for old people to look back on their life before they die and think “Done that”). I was thinking how cool it would be to have a list for must-see places for kids. This way, a kid bordering the end of his childhood—or at a point in life when he or she is thinking about what makes childhood great—they can look back on the list, remember and share (but more on that “remember and share” bit later this week).
So What should be on the list? I can come up with a few places but then, I’ll need other folk to list things of Must-Do or Must-See places for kids. And nothing absurd like “Texas” which by itself means nothing to a kid. I’m not going to put the places in list order yet—I just want some input before compiling it. Here’s a starter:
- Disney World, FL
- Great Adventure, NJ
- Sesame Place, PA
- A Circus
- Renaissance Fair
- The Bronx Zoo, NY
- The Empire State Building, NY
- Niagara Falls, NY
- Phosphorescent Bay, Parguera
- Hershey Park for Chocolate Tasting, PA
- Smithsonian, DC
Add away, if you have any suggestions. Update: After I get some more suggestions I’ll post something Wedsnday listing Must-See Kids’ Places.
12 responses to “Lists Us Up Where We Belong”
MCF doesn’t have something to write, he creates a list—everyone interacts.
You’re half right. I always have something to write, but people don’t always interact with my lengthy essays, and I’m losing enough readers lately as it is. Breaking a post down into bullet points or some other list makes it easier for people to quickly glance, form an opinion…and interact. The other great way to get interaction and guarantee comments, as you probably know, is to make a specific statement about someone. Whether they agree or disagree, they will write back. :)
Mentioning me won’t necessarily get you a comment. Sometimes I don’t comment just out of spite, especially when you call me mushy.
Case in point.
But Curt, I don’t think I called you a smurf on this site yet. That’s a positive! :)
And no one is going to suggest any must-see places for kids huh?
Um…Amsterdam?
;)
MCF, did your parents take you places that you look back on now and think “man that was great”. Anywhere.
OK, serious answers would be our road trips out East. I remember a petting zoo, apple picking, pumpkin picking, the Ice Cream Factory, and the Shrine of Our Lady of the Island. I think I rode an elephant once but I don’t remember whether that was the Bronx Zoo, Bethpage Restoration, or some other outdoor fair. When I first started playing in feasts, I had fun on breaks with the kiddie coasters and those things that look like record turntables that you put a quarter in and move the arm to get some prize. Once or twice my mom even let me go on the round-up, which is that big spinning wheel deathtrap where a cage and centrifugal force holds you in place.
Favorite school trips included the Vanderbilt Planetarium, South Street Seaport, the Cradle of Aviation and the Museum of Natural History.
Once or twice when I was older I went to Splish Splash and to Adventureland or whatever that amusement park on 110 in Huntington is.
Also, Brookhaven Labs. They had tons of cool exhibits and experiments, like a phosphorescent wall that captured and held your shadow after a flash of light. And there was a show where a scientist bounced a rubber ball, then put it in a thermos with liquid nitrogen(wearing special gloves of course), then took it out with tongs and shattered it on the floor.
Occasionally they’d drag to me to see school plays, but I think my mom enjoyed those more than I did. That’s just me though. There were also the occasional outdoor concerts at our local park. I also have memories of this indoor Farmer’s Market somewhere in Bethpage or Hicksville on rte 107 that’s no longer there. It was like this huge indoor flea market with all these great ecclectic antique booths and stuff. It smelled of hay and barn smells, but what I liked about it was this huge merry-go-round in the middle. The best place my parents went shopping though was Modell’s back when it was a full fledged department store instead of a small sporting goods place. They were where Home Depot is now in East Meadow and at each entrance there was a bank of arcade games. When I was old enough to do my own thing in stores but not old enough to stay home alone, they’d let me watch people play games while they shopped(occasionally my dad would sneak me some quarters–my mom didn’t like me wasting money). It was the first place I saw Super Mario Bros., Rygar, and Baby Pacman with the pinball machine, to name a few.
This is great; you’ve actually stimulated a number of topics for future MCF LI pieces, so I’ll save some of those ideas for my blog. :)
I’m just surprised you haven’t torn into me about correcting your Hitchikers info.
First things first. I LOVE the title of this post:)
Now, on to the lists.
I know as a kid I really enjoyed the Touch Me, Feel Me Museum- I think it’s in PA
Franklin Institute was another cool place
Of course like you, my choices are extremely limited to the east coast. Clearly I need to get out more.:(
Where oh where is the Met?
Plenty of California things need to be added here. San Francisco, Monterey Bay Aquarium, San Diego (specifically Balboa Park), Disneyland (yes, it is totally worth it to go to both WDW and DL).
[…] Ugh, this title makes me ill and I did not want to go there. But whatever; I mentioned this idea of remembering and sharing in regard to kids’ Must-See Places. Must See places are still trickling in (mostly East Coast) but I wanted to share this cool (and crafty…ugh) idea that my sister-in-law inadvertently gave me. […]