Parents Talk: You're Done with It, but Are the Kids?

Whiz, boom. Ooh, ahh. Yawn. 

As we age, we tire of fireworks.

But it takes a few decades, and most kids are not there yet. So we pack a blanket or a sheet to sit on and head for another fireworks show, whether at a festival or for the Fourth. Even if we're bored, the kids aren't.

What is the line between teaching kids your values, and letting dislikes or "been-there-done-that" restrict the richness of their young lives?

Take Disneyland and Disneyworld. Maybe they don't have quite the pull they did when I was a kid. But I got to go to each one once during visits to cousins in California and grandparents in Florida. My kids don't beg to go to Disneyland; they don't even mention it. Do they not know or not care? Or have they picked up on the fact that I for one never need to go to either place again?

Or take boating and canoeing. We don't own either kind of watercraft (I should turn in my Native Minnesotan card, I know). But I haven't forgotten how it felt as a kid on the bottom of a boat while a grownup at the outboard motor plies choppy lake waves. Or to take my turn sitting at the stern of a canoe, steering a course for the first time. As a parent, have I done all I could to give my kids those experiences—renting a boat or borrowing a canoe if necessary?

What activity or experience have you had enough of? Do you make sure your kids experienced it anyway, or do you skip it?