Hard to invoke wide-eyed wonderment in kids nowadays?

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Betsy Og

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Looking back on the fairly straightforward things that would have had me in wonderment as a kid (a visit to the Spring Show, or Croke Park), I notice my own kids take nearly everything in their stride ..... a higher bar to get a "wow factor" response out of them.

Anyone else agree?

Not saying its necessarily a bad thing or anything, but you could find yourself feeling fairly anti-climactic if you dont get used to the idea that it now takes something strataspheric to get wide-eyed wonderment.
 
Digging my home grown potatoes last year gave my 8 year old grandaughter the Wow factor. Each forkful of potatoes uncovered and she was jumping in to grab them.
 
SoylentGreen said:
Digging my home grown potatoes last year gave my 8 year old grandaughter the Wow factor.
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Ditto for me yesterday with my 4 year old helping me peel & mash the spuds. We're making fish cakes tomorrow and it's all excitement. I know these are the magic years though before the inevitable DS Lite is requested from Santa.
 
Firefly said:
Ditto for me yesterday with my 4 year old helping me peel & mash the spuds. We're making fish cakes tomorrow and it's all excitement. I know these are the magic years though before the inevitable DS Lite is requested from Santa.
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Bake some fairy cakes with them. Everyone loves a fairy cake just out of the oven.
 
You have a point, but kids and still kids and the small things are still good.

My kids ( 11,9,4) are completely comfortable with all technology, and have been on plenty of foreign holidays so less impressed by some things, but are still impressed by the small things.
The best memories I have of their faces lighting up in the last few years are - making snowmen, swimming in the sea, making sandcastles, seeing fireworks.

I am taking them down the country this year to see a real St Patricks Day parade - lots of tractors, home-made floats and GAA teams, not a sniff of Macnas.
 
becky said:
Bake some fairy cakes with them. Everyone loves a fairy cake just out of the oven.
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Thanks becky! Mrs Firefly does the baking end of things with them...my knowledge of this extends to a mean homemade pizza though!

The fish cakes turned out great and more importantly, they were eaten. Have about 20 in the freezer now too so that's 1 dinner a week for 10 weeks!
 
6 years ago we took a short break to London. We booked tickets for the London Eye and queued for about 30 minutes to get into one of the pods.

After 5 minutes my then 4yo daughter sat down on the bench with her arms and legs crossed and a face on her that would curdle milk. When asked why she was sitting thre instead of the hoped for 'Oohs' and 'Aahs' from the sights of London, she said "I didn't think it would be so boring".

In fairness to her, we got plenty of the wide-eyed wonderment when we walked into Hamleys.
 
What I find hilarious is that they can often be unimpressed with planned, special pressies but something very cheap & cheerful can do the trick...if only you knew in advance!
 
has to be the baby monkeys in the zoo
making furniture out of conkers (you stick pins in the back of them as a chair back, and wind around thread to create a cover and then add extras pins as legs)
scraps of material to sew dolls clothes
going to the top of the Wellington monument or the Pope's cross and flying down it at speed
Hang gliding on Killiney Hill
Japanese Gardens - inspiring...
Sundial at Dun Laoghaire pier which shows distances to various sights - you can move around it and see them - going rockpooling with my dad afterwards where he told me solemnly that bits of glass were emeralds and sapphires
Madame Tussauds in London
Picnics!
An old Girl's World head
Still have a free pencil from the St Patrick's Day 1980 parade!
Most of these may account for the fact I don't like heights, mind you!
 
Firefly said:
What I find hilarious is that they can often be unimpressed with planned, special pressies but something very cheap & cheerful can do the trick...if only you knew in advance!
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Absolutely. Very often my 3 yr old gets a bigger kick out of playing with the box a toy came in than the box itself.

Also, my kids love colouring pictures. Very often, the simple things are the best.
 
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