Quick question for the parents. Do you remember being told “because I said so”? Being sent to your room? Being made to finish every last pea on the plate, in a house where dessert was a privilege and not a right?
Well, those same people are about to spend Sunday 25 October buying your children an ice cream at 10am, and calling it “a little treat.” The discipline era is over. Granny and pop are currently in the pushover zone.
Lucky for everyone, Sydney Zoo is making it very easy for them.
Free entry for grandparents
For Grandparents Day this Sunday, grandparents get in free. Yes, the people who once made you return a 20c lolly to the shop with a grovelling apology are now getting a freebie, and they’ll be spending the savings on your kids within about four minutes. Possibly on a stuffed animal the size of a toddler. Possibly two.
Fair warning: the grandparents will tell you “oh, they’re no trouble at all” while a three-year-old is licking a railing. This is the same person who once grounded you for a fortnight over a slightly muddy sock. Let them have this. They’ve earned it. Probably.
Expect the following sentences to be said out loud, with a straight face:
- “Oh, one more won’t hurt.”
- “Don’t tell your mother.”
- “I’m sure it’s fine, they’re only little.”
Flat paths, fewer excuses
Sydney Zoo’s pathways are flat and accessible, which means it works for everyone from wobbly first-steppers to grandparents who “don’t need a rest, we’re fine” and then sit down at the first bench they see. Prams, walkers, tiny legs, all welcome. Nobody has to hike up a hill to look at a giraffe.
Also, the person who made you walk home from school in the rain “because it builds character” will now be perched on a bench handing out lollies from a handbag that has apparently been stocked since 1987. Character building has been cancelled.
Enter the Gruffalo
Here’s the real drawcard. The Gruffalo Spotters Trail is an augmented reality adventure, included with zoo admission, where little explorers and their grown-ups follow clues, spot familiar characters and snap photos along the way.
Grandparents who once told you “stop being silly, there’s no such thing as monsters” are about to be dragged around a zoo by a small person yelling “There he is.” There will also be Gruffalo story time sessions and appearances from the big fella himself on Sunday, so expect at least one photo of a grandparent looking slightly terrified and thoroughly delighted.
Share a favourite childhood story with the next generation, or simply hang out together. Either works. (The grandparent doing all the voices is non-negotiable. The same person who said “I’m not doing the voices” in 1996 will now do a full West End performance.)
The game plan
Bring the grandparents. Bring the kids. Resist the urge to say “that’s not how we did it with you.” They will absolutely be having a second ice cream, and you will absolutely let it slide.
Because the truth is, the same people who once said “I’ll give you something to cry about” are now saying “of course you can have the sparkly one, darling.” Don’t fight it. Just enjoy the show, and maybe ask for a few of those lollies yourself.
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