Thursday, January 8, 2009

Hypothetical Question

So lets say we've got some friends who are going to Cancun. Let's say they are bringing their kids who are 4 and 8. These same kids are WAY excited to look for shells on the beach. How horrible would it be if their parents were to go to the dollar store, and get one of those big buckets of shells and starfish, and if the same parents were to surreptitiously drop said shells on the beach for their kids to find?

Of course this wouldn't be us. We are all about experiencing the nature indigenous to the area we'll be visiting, and of course I'm thrilled to let my kids bring home a big smelly bucket of seashell and beer bottle fragments, because I remember the joy it brought me as a child. (It did not however bring my mother the same joy. She found my wadded up grocery sack full of shells hidden in the "hiding place" compartment in our van about 2 weeks after we got back from CA. Then I used (and possibly ruined) one of her pots to try to boil the awful stench from my beloved shell fragments. She didn't like that either.)

Anyway, good idea? Bad idea? Or would this be like the whole Santa let down?

(We may not really do this... But I am considering it... If I get peer pressured into it, I'll totally succumb. Is this odd that this is a total moral dilemma for me, yet I have no compunctions telling those dead sea salt potion sellers at the mall that I've already got all their stuff (I don't.) and I've had bad reactions to it?)

I'd have loved to have found a sand dollar and a star fish as a kid. If I found out my parents put them there, I'm sure I would have laughed about it later. Maybe?

But it might be difficult trying to explain to my 3rd grader that it isn't really that good of an idea to give one of her "cool shells from Mexico" to all her classmates who she wants to bring souvenirs for. (Or maybe it would be a good idea! $1.06 divided by 26 = $0.o40769... per student...)

5 comments:

Ammon said...

Don't do it!
First, you wont escape the smell because they will find other one's as well (even if you go through the bag and try to ditch the genuine one's) Second, you'll fuel the fire, if they have such luck finding all sorts of rare shells on this trip, you'll never be able to escape the charade (Think now of mom's tapes "if you tell one lie, it leads to another...") because they'll get even more excited about shell hunting and you'll always want to avoid the smelly shells. Another thing to consider is that since your blog isn't private (and even maybe if it was) all of your posts are being saved in archives (archive.org) that somewhere down the line the kids will find and read, even if your blog is long gone. So they will eventually have that "Santa Claus" moment, (which they might just laugh about) So I looked up some ways to get rid of smells (http://goflorida.about.com/od/beaches/a/shells_cleaning.htm) and my favorite idea is this. pick the shells you want to keep, put them in your hotel microwave on the last morning you are at the hotel, and then the hotel room will "smell of the sea" which should be a perk to future travlers. (Just don't ever ask for that room again.) Or, bring lots and lots of ziploc bags or mail them back home and if some break, oh well.

Tenise said...

Hahaha! Ammon you nut. Okay, so I'll probably not do it. Cross off one thing on my to do list.

Sister Brittster said...

I think you should bring a few "items" just in case there aren't any good ones on the beach. We found some amazing ones when I was in California as a kid but those are becoming fewer and farther between because so many people collect them to sell them. Have a few ready to be "prize whoppers" just in case none can be found...then don't tell them until they are older...much much older...LOL : )

Anonymous said...

Don't do it! I read Tori Spellings autobiography her mom did this exact thing for her!

Tenise said...

Oh Shellie! Now I feel like a horrible mom for even considering it! hahaha.