Today the soccer team I coach (on which the younger Free-Ride offspring is a player) had its last game of the spring season.
"Yay! Trophies!!" screamed the players at the end of the game. So, off we all went to the traditional end-of-season pizza party and trophy distribution event.
At the pizza parlor, as the players were running around and shaking down their parents for quarters, it hit me: All the pizza parlors in our area have quarter-gobbling arcade games. The one with the fewest has no fewer than four. The one where we were today had at least a dozen.
Now, we eat pizza at home without needing to play video games or foosball, let alone trying to navigate a claw to pick up some little plastic toy that will break, end up underfoot, or both within 48 hours. Why must every "dine-in" pizza experience occur against a backdrop reminiscent of the slot machines in the terminals at the Las Vegas Airport? I'm pretty sure it doesn't enhance the flavor of the pizza.
I suppose I should be thankful that at least there were no giant singing rats.
I wonder if I can beg off of the elder offspring's end-of-season pizza-and-skeeball party this evening.
Kids get bored. Kids look for things to do when they're bored. Better to make money with flashy games than spend money on repairs and maintenance.
How much better would the world be were we to learn just how different a child's mind is from an adult's?
It's pre-engineering school: Doing something requiring concentration whilst eating pizza and concurrently wondering if you were to stuff the pepperoni behind that paddle there, then the ball would be deflected over there, setting off that gizmo, giving a slight pause in the action so you can have another bite of the pizza. ;-)