when kids rule

ever since our first cousins from my dad's side began raising babies of their own, it had always become such a major issue to us, everytime we wanted to get together like old times - aka the eat-drink-and-be-merry kind of gimmicks - what to bribe their little gremlins (there are now 10 of them) so they won't get bored and eventually leave the adults to have some fun...it used to be so easy for us cousins to mobilize and do our usual nite out: pig out for dinner, go hopping til the bars close, move to 24-hour establishments where we'll "wash up" til breakfast - we practically had our regular TGIF gigs - all these before kids began popping out like corn kernels...yep, age of innocence has ended and for the past couple of years, the priority in every activity we'd do together had been focused on how to ensure the gremlins are preoccupied (and enjoying themselves) so that we could, no matter how briefly, relive those days of yore...so much creativity is required because adult fun, particularly in its rarity, is at stake...

last friday was one such occasion...we wanted to get together to, of course, eat-drink-and-be-merry once again...we had a birthday lunch for my dad's one and only brother the previous sunday (aug 27, his 78th year) but felt we all didn't have enough time to enjoy each other's company...they had to go home early as the kids had school the following day so we've decided we'd get together again this weekend and just have our gimmick here at home...true enough, at the last minute, 2 kids didn't want to go...panic creeps in because the other gremlins may be influenced and if that happens, their parents (my cousins) will be forced to cancel...

with phone calls and text galore interchanged between us cousins the entire time, we finally agreed we'll bribe the kids with the following : access to unlimited internet games for the boys, cake decorating class for the girls, the toddlers can watch cartoons all they want...

success! not only did they suddenly get excited, they surely got preoccupied, and were truly enjoying! woohoo! nobody made any tantrums, not one cried, and more importantly, when they got tired, they all holed up in dad's room, watched tv and curled up in bed on their own much later on, til we finished drinking...my cousins had to carry them all to their cars at 2 in the morning but no one has complained, we all had our respective adult and kiddie time, and a good one at that...