Having a large family has its pros and cons, it’s frustrations and it’s laughs. Today, I would like to share with you one of the laughs we’ve had as a large family.
We are a home schooled family. This being the case, we are able to take vacations during the school year that most families can only take when school is out. (In case you’re wondering… Yes, we did get all of our school done. We just usually started school a little early in the year or let out a little later.) Anyway… We quickly discovered that a lot of elderly people also take vacations during the fall because they know think that there won’t be any kids around. After all, they are all in school. Right? ——— Wrong!!
One of the most entertaining things to do was to pull into a campground in a large van pulling a camper. That always gets the attention of the elderly people in the area. But then, we all start getting out. Yeah… That REALLY gets their attention. You can almost see them doing a mental head count as their eyes grow larger and larger. They begin to wonder just what they got themselves into with this vacation. This is usually followed by finger-pointing (no, they don’t usually point at us exactly) as they start discussing where they could move their camper or motor home.
We smile and wave and try to put their fears to rest. Sometimes that works. Sometimes, but not always. The ones that do brave it out — to see if we’re going to be tolerable — proceed to get comfy in their lawn chairs and watch as we set up camp. We’ve actually had a few couples come over after a day or two and comment on how “well-behaved the kids are” and stay around to visit with us. You can see their relief and know they must be glad that they didn’t have to go to the effort of moving to the other side of the camp grounds in order to avoid annoying kids.
I understand that their fear is logical. So many big families really are a bunch of little (and big) terrors. They get really loud and bother people. This is why these elderly people go on vacation during the school year. They believe that there won’t be any kids around to bother them and interrupt their peace and quiet.
Still… it is funny to see all the shocked, frightened, frustrated, etc. expressions that cross their faces. We get a laugh out of it. 🙂
