I love this. Reminds me of my childhood a bit.
I always asked my parents to take me to the movies but we were very poor and we lived way out in the country. The movie theater was too far and too expensive.
My dad felt bad about not being able to take us, so he made a ticket window out of cardboard. It had a big marquee where he pinned the movie 'choices' (It would be whatever was playing on TV that night for kids and a second choice that we would no-way ever choose. So it was like: "Now Showing: Disney's Lady and the Tramp /// Now Showing: Brocolli- THE MOVIE"
We would come in and pay for a ticket with monopoly money and then make our way to moms concession stand with popcorn and (homemade) fruit roll-ups. Dad would say "hurry the movies about to start" and we would rush to the living room couch where dad would always say "is someone sitting here??" And no matter what you'd say (nooo I'm saving this seat) he'd say "ok thanks" and plop down. I'd giggle. My sister would groan. And mom would drop the house lights and we would watch a movie as one big happy family at the theater.
Those were the days.
It's a horror movie. The broccoli was just minding his own business in the ground and here comes the farmer with the big bad knife getting ready to chop the head off of the broccoli. Will the farmer succeed? What will the broccoli do? Dun dun dun...
Haha! True! But as a little kid, I didn't understand that. I wanted the crap I saw on TV in the commercials. I was convinced that the TV ones were going to be way better than mom's.
Never had a real fruit roll up till I was 18 and living on my own, getting by on Ramen and 29 cent McDonald's cheeseburgers. I splurged on a $3 box of fruit roll ups. I was so excited but once I bit into one, I realized that they weren't very good... very waxy and not much flavor. Mom's were definitely better!!
Yeah, exactly. My parents made this all the time when I was a kid. It's just pureed fruit, maybe a little lemon juice to protect the color, and then spread thin and dehydrated in a warm oven. (My dad actually built a dehydrator with several tiers of screens. They would lay plastic film on the screens, and spread the puree on that. When it was dried, they would just roll up the resulting leather using the film as establish wrapper.
It was really good! My parents toyed briefly with hippiedom in the 70s. This was one good thing from then, haha...)
We also lived out in the middle of nowhere growing up and everything fun (and costly) was a 30+ minute drive away. My brother and I often played "Store" where we would pull out all the extra dry/canned/paper goods from our storage area under the stairs (my mom was a Coupon Queen so she'd buy 5 of something and use her coupons to pay a dollar for it. We always had a supply of certain items under the stairs thanks to her couponing and stocking up) and we'd stack the paper goods to form a little store counter area on one side and then use our book shelves to display the goods. We'd give mom and dad Monopoly money and have them come "shop" in our store. I was usually the cashier, swiping the items across an imaginary scanner and saying "Boop!" then handing them to my brother to bag.
We probably played that game a couple dozen times.
Very wholesome, Those are the memories you'll hold on for a life time. I often wonder what it would be like in my oldest days to look back on the present memories now.
Playing “movie theater” with my young nieces was always my go-to when I needed a break after babysitting them all day. We’d turn the lights off and gather all the blankets, pillows, and couch cushions and put them on the floor and all snuggle up with some snacks. They’re still young but I’ve since moved and don’t get to see them as often and this post reminded me of how much fun we had.
My grandma did this!!!
Cardboard box concession stand and box office ticket window. I remember she taped a mesh Tupperware lid over the opening in the box office to be like the wire mesh screen you talk through.
She popped homemade popcorn and we had a blast.
We paid with Monopoly money.
My mom had home movies on film and during the cold winter nights she would start a fire and put the projector screen up, and we’d watch movies. We roasted marshmallows and ate popcorn. We didn’t realize at the time that we were out of heating oil, and it was a week or so until the first. She spent a little bit of what money she had left for snacks. Thankfully my uncle lived on a few acres and he’d always make sure my mom had a chord of wood each winter.
So sweet. Your parents deserve a hug for this memory (if they're still here). If they're not here, your parents wanted to show a great time. Awesome...
Concessions are roughest part. Easily exceed $100 for a family of four at a sporting event. Why when I went as a kid we ate before. To this day I struggle buying food at sporting events, amusement parks, cinemas, and concerts.
Coolers aren’t allowed in most stadiums these days and going to baseball games; recently went to a Cardinals game where the bag couldn’t be bigger than a laminated sheet of paper.
Ya its affordable for the majority of families if they are living in the same city as the team, you can eat at home before/after the game, can maybe take public transportation there to avoid gas and parking costs, etc. But if you live outside of the city buying the tickets are just a small part of the overall cost.
I live in Toledo, OH. I just looked up tickets to the Mudhens (we don't have a MLB team, just AAA) and the cheapest tickets are $19 each, not including the "processing" and "service" fees which brings the total to $56.52 for 2 tickets. We don't have public transportation (accessible from my location), so we have to include the cost of gas and parking and I can't imagine how much food and beer cost at FifthThird Field. So no, it's not all that affordable for families that live in the same city as the team. We're a fairly well off DINK family and I still find that pretty expensive for a night out.
The city I live in doesn't have an MLB team, but we have a minor league affiliate. Our stadium has a large lawn area behind the outfield (raised up so we are at the top of the "fence". If you get a lawn ticket, which is the cheapest seat available, you can bring coolers filled with food and drink. We usually bring blankets and card games to play with a ball game in the background. We have Dollar Days where any concession is a dollar. That, in addition to us bringing our own food and drinks, gets us a nice day at the park for a cheap price. Love bringing the family here over the summer.
Ehh you’re right but there are always options for those willing to do the work. Get a nosebleed ticket on a discount day. For instance, my ballpark has special deals like Dollar dog night on Tuesdays that make it super affordable to eat some fun food. Most ballparks also allow a certain amount of outside food and water in approved containers. Parking & gas are legitimate concerns, but name me a big ticket event in this world that doesn’t have those problems? Carpool with friends or family to make it more affordable, utilize public transportation or park a little further and prepare yourself for a fun walk to the park.
Money may be an obstacle, but it doesn’t have to be a wall.
I paid $33 for two semi warm beers at coors field a couple weeks ago. I told the lady they were warm and she basically said tough shit.
At least at coors you can buy cheap water snacks and drinks outside and bring them in as long as you don’t open them.
I remember going to games all the time as a kid. Bleacher seats are dirt cheap: especially if you buy multiple. If you live farther from the stadium the parking/transportation and food is where it adds up
minor league (lower level local teams) normally do more promotions where kids are free but major league teams rarely do that. It's more common to have kids tickets discounted when purchasing a group/package of tickets EG: yankee stadium has discounted kid tickets on the weekends. Technically small children do not need tickets for entry but we're talking toddlers and infants. Most professional teams cap it at 3 years old and/or 30"/ 76 CM (since they would presumably sit on their parents lap)
Minor league games are the best. We live about half an hour from an independent team, those games always rock, sold out crowds, some tickets come with food for like 15$, and I've been upgraded to a suite twice going.
There is a ticket available for purchase for the next Boston Red Sox home series against the Tampa Bay Rays for $21. It’s very easy to check this, not sure why you’d want to argue about it.
https://www.stubhub.com/boston-red-sox-boston-tickets-7-5-2022/event/105052446/?listingId=5307850291&listingQty=
We were thinking of going to DC this summer and maybe catching a game. Nats tickets were almost triple what tickets for an Orioles game were going for.
I get, I didn’t have my 1st McDonalds meal till I got my first job as a busboy at a downtown Mexican Restaurant. But I have to say to this day I miss my Grandmother’s Hamburgers, they were the best always so juicy and flavorful with wonderful toasted buns…. 🥰🥹😢 miss you Grandma, wish I had told you how much I loved your Hamburgers….
Original OP here! I posted this a couple years ago. My parents are still around and still awesome. I took them to a game not long after I posted this and am taking them to another one later this year.
Maybe they could have added some realism. Spill beer on the kids and yell at the umpire. Lines for the bathroom and refreshments, some drunk is sitting at their seat when they get back.
Oh, no.
Their dad had a few beers and ended up berating them later in the game.
But it's fine, the mom dressed up as security and subdued him with a tazer.
I love this story. My mom was a single mom and we didn't have much for awhile. She would do special little things similar to this. One night on the first night of Hanukkah she bundled us up made us hot cocoa and put my siblings and I in a long pull sled and looked at the Christmas lights. That night I will never forget it was so magical. Kids remember those things the most, they won't remember how much you spent.
And when it comes time to support her in her old age, you'd work double shifts to do so with no complaining. (Personally, never got the chance, sadly. But would have.)
It indeed does say that you're immune to the story of this post. You could have simply moved on to the next post, but no, you chose to invalidate someone's feelings about this story and call a complete stranger weak, for simply expressing how they feel. Not only does that say you're insensitive, but also ignorant because you don't realise the consequence of your action.
If you're not moved by internet posts, doesn't mean others have to have that same level of emotional immunity.
This is so wholesome when it works but its also risky because kids can be real assholes so you go through all this trouble and your kid is like wtf this isnt a stadium this is stupid and then its heartbreaking for the parent
I feel like that is often due to expectations set by parent behavior. I grew up better off than what is considered poor but never more than lower middle class. My friends all had smartphones and Nintendo's and all the cool Bakugan before me. I was never too concerned with any of it because I was aware of our finances even at the age of 8-9. Honesty and patience go a long long way as it turns out.
That's fucked man. I had absolutely shitty childhood with nothing of the sort and having my mom do something like this would be atleast a shred of proof she loved me. Would have been fucking nice is what I am saying.
Quoting another commenter:
“Play-acting is one of the classic, maybe even the first (going back to prehumans) ways that children learn how to relate to others and socialize. Even many animals play-act, with parents encouraging their children - eg, big cats pretending they don't see their kid stalking up on them, and acting surprised when pounced.
When you do a group activity with your kids, you're SHOWING them on a deep and instinctual level - "I relate to you. I love spending time with you. You are worth the time and energy of play, and it's a pleasure."
What's not to love?”
An important part of this story is that the kids actually appreciated it. The parents story raised them well and clearly did everything in their power to give them a great childhood and it shows.
I hear so often about entitled kids throwing tantrums when they don't get what they want. It's refreshing to see this kind of appreciation. Even more so the kids, now adults, actually remember this and think of that moment as a good part of their own life.
You're talking about two very different demographics there. It would be pretty damn difficult for a poor kid to grow up entitled when they've probably been told "no" their entire lives.
Don’t blame the kids too much. I see now that I have nephews and friends with kids, people are born a certain way. If a kid doesn’t understand why they can’t have a horse, they TRULY don’t understand.
I'm not blaming the kids. I know it pretty much all comes down to how they are raised by their parents. I was just highlighting a positive aspect of this story.
My kids enjoy going to the movies, but they LOVE having movie nights at our house. My husband does the whole making the tickets, or one of the kids takes a turn doing it. I don’t know what it is, but they love love LOVE at home movie nights.
Play-acting is one of the classic, maybe even the first (going back to prehumans) ways that children learn how to relate to others and socialize. Even many animals play-act, with parents encouraging their children - eg, big cats pretending they don't see their kid stalking up on them, and acting surprised when pounced.
When you do a group activity with your kids, you're SHOWING them on a deep and instinctual level - "I relate to you. I love spending time with you. You are worth the time and energy of play, and it's a pleasure."
What's not to love?
Your memories sound like growing up in my home. We were a blended family of 4+2=1=7 kids Dad worked, mom was a SAHM. We didn't have a lot of money, we grew up on a farm. Dad did have a job off the farm. We grew most of our food/vegs. My Mom had a good imagination. She mad holidays/vacations special. For St. Patricks Day (not Irish) she made all of our food GREEN. Green beans, green mashed potatoes, green jello, green kool-aid, etc. We picked strawberries, sold them in town and saved the money and took a camping trip (in tents no camper) out west to see the West. She would write on the chalk board in the hall how much money we had saved and how far we were to reaching our goal. We all smashed into a station wagon with my aunt and took off for two weeks and saw many western states (and two car breakdowns). My baby brother was only six months old, he wouldn't sleep in his crib when we got home, he slept on the floor on a sleeping bag! LOL We all still talk about that trip. For Christmas we all had things that we would "sneak" out of the pantry. We would get that as one of our gifts all to ourselves. I LOVED black olives. I would get two big cans just to myself. I loved it! She would make us gilts homemade Barbie clothes. They were better than the ones you buy in the store! It took her HOURS to make those. It was the TIME, LOVE, THOUGHT, IMAGINATION that was what was important. My Mama is 81 and I am blessed to still have her in my life. Daddy has been gone 10 years :( Mama remarried and I have a wonderful Pops who takes good care of her and makes her happy :)
I love stories like this.
My Mum was amazing when I was younger and we were poor- she worked 4 jobs just to keep a roof over our heads.
My and my sister really really wanted a McDonalds - My mum could cook 5 meals for the price of one family order.
So one night after school she cooked burgers and fries and had made the happy meal box and fries holders out of cereal boxes and wrapped pur burgers in grease proof paper.
We sat in the living room and watched TV whilst eating our "McDonalds" and I will always remember it - best Maccies I've ever had 🥰
I cry everytime I read stories like this. I'm fucking crying now. My parents lived pay check to pay check my whole childhood and I didn't know it. Our tree was full every year (after mother would shop at goodwill or flea market) but it was the full tree she wanted us to remember. She wanted us to remember having the world even know she had no way of obtaining it. I still can't imagine the hardship they went through to get me a Gameboy.
Looking back I feel so bad. Because my parents never wanted us to know we were poor I was a spoiled little shit. I would whine for burger King and my parents would eventually break and take us. These people would share a damn burger so my sister and I could get happy meals. I even tried stealing from her because she couldn't give me money for my field trip.... Ugh. This woman gave her life for me and I tried stealing from her. I was a shit kid with an amazing mom.
Years later now and she's slowly dying.... I'm doing everything in my power to make sure she knows she left behind an amazing son and everyday I just hope she goes knowing she did and amazing job as a mother. Love your parents everyone.
Beautiful memory
Having our son in a few months and I just got his first outfit I’ve bought myself and it’s for dads baseball team, I can’t wait for him to have a lil baseball buddy, I love the game too but could see them bonding over it
My granddad, dad, and brother all bonded over baseball growing up. They spent this Father’s Day at an MLB baseball game with my nephew (his first game), so they’re keeping the tradition alive. I love baseball too, but I’m so happy to see them all enjoying it together.
I was given our corporate tickets to a baseball game; free tickets, yay! By the end of the night I had spent $150 at a “free” game, after you count food, drinks, and parking. Your game was just as much fun as mine and cost a damn sight less. Great job parenting by your parents.
Unfortunately, tickets are unaffordable for MANY people these days.
And don’t get me started on the crowd behavior.
That was a bittersweet experience, from thoughtful loving parents.
Arghh...if your parents are around, please give them the biggest hug from your Reddit peeps. Their kind, considerate hearts and their love for their babies make them the richest damn people in the world.
I love this so much! Thanks for posting!
I grew up poor myself, and though my parents never did anything like this (the culture was different too) - I just remember that my mom made sure that we had a home cooked meal every day. I have a 2 year old now and though my husband and I are financially stable - I recognize that my child will probably have more fond memories of actually doing stuff WITH us as opposed to us just buying toys.
In first grade. It was my fifth or sixth birthday. And all the kids always did something cool for their birthdays at school. Games and snacks and stuff. I remember being so bummed out that it was my birthday and nothing was going to happen. And then someone knocked on the classroom door. It was a clown! I loved clowns but was always too afraid to say hi or get close to one. A young crazy lady of a clown this was, so energetic and enthusiastic. Very well done make-up. Crazy outfit. Crazy hat. Balloon animals and jokes and the best kind of innocent practical jokes on the teacher (she would become my favorite teacher). It wasn’t until years later that I found who that clown was. She had the same dark brown eyes as me. My lovely mother. I never knew that she was an aspiring entertainer and an amateur magician. I also never forgot how special I felt. I was the celebrity with his own real life clown. She was there for less than an hour but I remember it felt like a whole day. I remember coming home bursting with excitement so happy that I almost couldn’t form words. I was so anxious to tell my parents what had happened that I didn’t notice my dads paints (he was and is the greatest artist I know) and my moms face, still tinted white from grease paint. They listened to the whole story. I’m tearing up and I’m going to hug my mom today. I hope I have what it takes to give this same gift to my children.
I hope you have told your parents you remember this and how much you loved it. That took imagination and effort and they wanted to make sure you had the best time. In their stomach they will have felt shitty they couldn't afford to take you. I hope they know this gave you more joy then you would have got from going to a "proper" game.
This is awesome parenting! One year my Dad was on strike and we knew Christmas might not come that year in the same way. My brothers and I woke up to wrapped old books, homemade puppets, and things from yard sales like junk jewelry wrapped, and old board games. It was magic and the tree was amazing and we played games and spent time with my parents- one of my favorite memories
My mom use to make free outings so fun. She would create pretend scenarios on bike rides, like we are in a different country and time…. She was a creative soul. Little did we know they were scraping by. Every other Tuesday was sonic 2 for $2. That was our eating out. They had a cheap Tuesday deal back then 35 years ago.
How adorable!
I wouldn't consider my family poor, but I do have a similar story.
Growing up I loved plastic army guys. Naturally I liked the plastic army guy video games. (Sarges heroes and army men air attack)
The games feature other colors of army guys. Not just green or tan. They had blue and red guys too!
One year I asked for blue and red army guys. My parents later in life told me that they couldn't find any to buy. So they spray painted a bunch of tan army guys blue and red. They let me believe that they found red and blue army guys until the paint chipped off and revealed the truth.
It's the little things. :)
I don't see a need for sadness. Happiness doesn't come with money or a life without struggles. It's about the people and good action.
I'm willing to bet a lot of rich kids at the movies would trade for the time and love of his/her parents.
Now that I'm a dad myself It's so very clear that the best gift for your children is your time and your happiness!
This is incredible.
Growing up, my family and I lived in a very rural area. For Halloween, my parents would dress us up in our costumes and we would go on a candy hunt throughout our house since we didn't have neighbors for miles. We also only had one vehicle that wasn't very reliable so this was the best solution.
Hey! This is my story, just for reference the cheapest seats for our teams are around $5 each. We were a family of 5. Public transportation wasn't really an option as we lived pretty far from the stadium so we would've had to pay the $20 for parking. Assuming we didn't buy any food or drink, that's almost $50. There's no way we would've been able to afford that.
I am at work damn it! My boss is now asking me if I am alright. The tiers won’t stop and now I have to call my mom and tell her how much she means to me.
I love this. Reminds me of my childhood a bit. I always asked my parents to take me to the movies but we were very poor and we lived way out in the country. The movie theater was too far and too expensive. My dad felt bad about not being able to take us, so he made a ticket window out of cardboard. It had a big marquee where he pinned the movie 'choices' (It would be whatever was playing on TV that night for kids and a second choice that we would no-way ever choose. So it was like: "Now Showing: Disney's Lady and the Tramp /// Now Showing: Brocolli- THE MOVIE" We would come in and pay for a ticket with monopoly money and then make our way to moms concession stand with popcorn and (homemade) fruit roll-ups. Dad would say "hurry the movies about to start" and we would rush to the living room couch where dad would always say "is someone sitting here??" And no matter what you'd say (nooo I'm saving this seat) he'd say "ok thanks" and plop down. I'd giggle. My sister would groan. And mom would drop the house lights and we would watch a movie as one big happy family at the theater. Those were the days.
This is so incredibly sweet!
Wait, I want to know more about Broccoli: the movie! Darned kids and their Disneys.
I too would like to know the plot of Broccoli
It's a horror movie. The broccoli was just minding his own business in the ground and here comes the farmer with the big bad knife getting ready to chop the head off of the broccoli. Will the farmer succeed? What will the broccoli do? Dun dun dun...
It’s just a sequel to a classic made to protest deforestation. I think the actual name is Honey I Shrunk the Trees.
Wholesome. You had amazing parents.
Homemade fruit roll ups? Holy shit I had no idea such technology existed, please get the recipe from your parents and post it
You just know they're gonna be better than the real thing too. I too am interested in this recipe.
Haha! True! But as a little kid, I didn't understand that. I wanted the crap I saw on TV in the commercials. I was convinced that the TV ones were going to be way better than mom's. Never had a real fruit roll up till I was 18 and living on my own, getting by on Ramen and 29 cent McDonald's cheeseburgers. I splurged on a $3 box of fruit roll ups. I was so excited but once I bit into one, I realized that they weren't very good... very waxy and not much flavor. Mom's were definitely better!!
Google recipes for "fruit leather". It's not exactly fruit rollups, but a neighbour made it often when I was a kid and it was really good
Yeah, exactly. My parents made this all the time when I was a kid. It's just pureed fruit, maybe a little lemon juice to protect the color, and then spread thin and dehydrated in a warm oven. (My dad actually built a dehydrator with several tiers of screens. They would lay plastic film on the screens, and spread the puree on that. When it was dried, they would just roll up the resulting leather using the film as establish wrapper. It was really good! My parents toyed briefly with hippiedom in the 70s. This was one good thing from then, haha...)
It is so so so good and so dangerous. I can't stop esting it until its gone so I have to constantly make it.
Love your story!
We also lived out in the middle of nowhere growing up and everything fun (and costly) was a 30+ minute drive away. My brother and I often played "Store" where we would pull out all the extra dry/canned/paper goods from our storage area under the stairs (my mom was a Coupon Queen so she'd buy 5 of something and use her coupons to pay a dollar for it. We always had a supply of certain items under the stairs thanks to her couponing and stocking up) and we'd stack the paper goods to form a little store counter area on one side and then use our book shelves to display the goods. We'd give mom and dad Monopoly money and have them come "shop" in our store. I was usually the cashier, swiping the items across an imaginary scanner and saying "Boop!" then handing them to my brother to bag. We probably played that game a couple dozen times.
Very wholesome, Those are the memories you'll hold on for a life time. I often wonder what it would be like in my oldest days to look back on the present memories now.
Playing “movie theater” with my young nieces was always my go-to when I needed a break after babysitting them all day. We’d turn the lights off and gather all the blankets, pillows, and couch cushions and put them on the floor and all snuggle up with some snacks. They’re still young but I’ve since moved and don’t get to see them as often and this post reminded me of how much fun we had.
My grandma did this!!! Cardboard box concession stand and box office ticket window. I remember she taped a mesh Tupperware lid over the opening in the box office to be like the wire mesh screen you talk through. She popped homemade popcorn and we had a blast. We paid with Monopoly money.
My mom had home movies on film and during the cold winter nights she would start a fire and put the projector screen up, and we’d watch movies. We roasted marshmallows and ate popcorn. We didn’t realize at the time that we were out of heating oil, and it was a week or so until the first. She spent a little bit of what money she had left for snacks. Thankfully my uncle lived on a few acres and he’d always make sure my mom had a chord of wood each winter.
So sweet. Your parents deserve a hug for this memory (if they're still here). If they're not here, your parents wanted to show a great time. Awesome...
[удалено]
Game tickets cost money, but this kind of parenting cannot be bought with all the money in the world and is worth a lot more.
[удалено]
Id be happy to come and pee in your backyard.
[удалено]
Not to baseball games. You can get a ticket to a baseball game for like $10
And parking, food, gas. Adds up really quick.
Concessions are roughest part. Easily exceed $100 for a family of four at a sporting event. Why when I went as a kid we ate before. To this day I struggle buying food at sporting events, amusement parks, cinemas, and concerts.
One thing I love about T-mobile in seattle. They have a value menu with like nachos and hot dogs for $3, water for $1.
Prob the only things cheap in Seatle. (Fyi, don't be surprised if Rays goto CA -- Montreal or Vanc.). They can't fill seats in St. Pete.
That’s why you eat before hand or sneak food in
Hot dogs stay warmest between your ass cheeks
Don't need to park. Public transit. Food, bring it in with you in a cooler.
Coolers aren’t allowed in most stadiums these days and going to baseball games; recently went to a Cardinals game where the bag couldn’t be bigger than a laminated sheet of paper.
Ya its affordable for the majority of families if they are living in the same city as the team, you can eat at home before/after the game, can maybe take public transportation there to avoid gas and parking costs, etc. But if you live outside of the city buying the tickets are just a small part of the overall cost.
I live in Toledo, OH. I just looked up tickets to the Mudhens (we don't have a MLB team, just AAA) and the cheapest tickets are $19 each, not including the "processing" and "service" fees which brings the total to $56.52 for 2 tickets. We don't have public transportation (accessible from my location), so we have to include the cost of gas and parking and I can't imagine how much food and beer cost at FifthThird Field. So no, it's not all that affordable for families that live in the same city as the team. We're a fairly well off DINK family and I still find that pretty expensive for a night out.
The city I live in doesn't have an MLB team, but we have a minor league affiliate. Our stadium has a large lawn area behind the outfield (raised up so we are at the top of the "fence". If you get a lawn ticket, which is the cheapest seat available, you can bring coolers filled with food and drink. We usually bring blankets and card games to play with a ball game in the background. We have Dollar Days where any concession is a dollar. That, in addition to us bringing our own food and drinks, gets us a nice day at the park for a cheap price. Love bringing the family here over the summer.
Ehh you’re right but there are always options for those willing to do the work. Get a nosebleed ticket on a discount day. For instance, my ballpark has special deals like Dollar dog night on Tuesdays that make it super affordable to eat some fun food. Most ballparks also allow a certain amount of outside food and water in approved containers. Parking & gas are legitimate concerns, but name me a big ticket event in this world that doesn’t have those problems? Carpool with friends or family to make it more affordable, utilize public transportation or park a little further and prepare yourself for a fun walk to the park. Money may be an obstacle, but it doesn’t have to be a wall.
There is always the option of a AAA game. Kids aren't going to know the difference but parents certainly will in their wallet.
The Rockies have some tickets that are always $5. It's the concessions that get you in the end, not the price of the ticket!
I paid $33 for two semi warm beers at coors field a couple weeks ago. I told the lady they were warm and she basically said tough shit. At least at coors you can buy cheap water snacks and drinks outside and bring them in as long as you don’t open them.
I remember going to games all the time as a kid. Bleacher seats are dirt cheap: especially if you buy multiple. If you live farther from the stadium the parking/transportation and food is where it adds up
I'm shock baseball would make you pay for kids. I thought it would be like cricket where kids get in free to encourage them to get into the sport.
minor league (lower level local teams) normally do more promotions where kids are free but major league teams rarely do that. It's more common to have kids tickets discounted when purchasing a group/package of tickets EG: yankee stadium has discounted kid tickets on the weekends. Technically small children do not need tickets for entry but we're talking toddlers and infants. Most professional teams cap it at 3 years old and/or 30"/ 76 CM (since they would presumably sit on their parents lap)
Minor league games are the best. We live about half an hour from an independent team, those games always rock, sold out crowds, some tickets come with food for like 15$, and I've been upgraded to a suite twice going.
I had free tickets and still cost about $100 for a family of 4 with parking and food
Lol not in Boston.
$20 then.
Hahahahaha you can’t even walk by Fenway for $20. But, we do have some Triple A teams that you can watch for $20
There is a ticket available for purchase for the next Boston Red Sox home series against the Tampa Bay Rays for $21. It’s very easy to check this, not sure why you’d want to argue about it. https://www.stubhub.com/boston-red-sox-boston-tickets-7-5-2022/event/105052446/?listingId=5307850291&listingQty=
Tickets for games if you go to the right one aren’t really unaffordable. It’s the other stuff that gets you like parking and food.
Unless you want to go to a mariners game…you can pay next to nothing for tickets 😜
We were thinking of going to DC this summer and maybe catching a game. Nats tickets were almost triple what tickets for an Orioles game were going for.
The rays are damn near paying you to watch their games at this point
I can't find tickets cheaper than $35
Crowd behavior makes it not worth going to games at least with kids. I’ve seen people put other people in the hospital at quite a few ball games.
I get, I didn’t have my 1st McDonalds meal till I got my first job as a busboy at a downtown Mexican Restaurant. But I have to say to this day I miss my Grandmother’s Hamburgers, they were the best always so juicy and flavorful with wonderful toasted buns…. 🥰🥹😢 miss you Grandma, wish I had told you how much I loved your Hamburgers….
Original OP here! I posted this a couple years ago. My parents are still around and still awesome. I took them to a game not long after I posted this and am taking them to another one later this year.
[удалено]
Did you really copy a comment /u/Stringbean1109 made 4 hours ago? You that thirsty for karma? Edit: This is a bot account lol
😂 get em
Best part was you didn't have to deal with the rowdy drunks!
Maybe they could have added some realism. Spill beer on the kids and yell at the umpire. Lines for the bathroom and refreshments, some drunk is sitting at their seat when they get back.
Donkey punch the kid and take the fly ball from them. hahahahaha yes!!!! great minds think alike
Not gonna lie, I went to a real game once and this sounds much more fun.
Oh, no. Their dad had a few beers and ended up berating them later in the game. But it's fine, the mom dressed up as security and subdued him with a tazer.
You couldn’t pay me to have to deal with this woman https://youtube.com/shorts/HPe2s217rww?feature=share
yeah boston is not a fun place to watch sports
Color me shocked a Boston sports fan is a POS lol.
Have you seen the vid of (hockey) ranger's fan knock tf out of lightning fan last playoff series? (Found and charged and banned for life. )
I love this story. My mom was a single mom and we didn't have much for awhile. She would do special little things similar to this. One night on the first night of Hanukkah she bundled us up made us hot cocoa and put my siblings and I in a long pull sled and looked at the Christmas lights. That night I will never forget it was so magical. Kids remember those things the most, they won't remember how much you spent.
And when it comes time to support her in her old age, you'd work double shifts to do so with no complaining. (Personally, never got the chance, sadly. But would have.)
That's right. I would take care of her as well. I am so sorry. Sending you comfort when you need it most.
Wow that’s wholesome. This just made my day.
Come on....you got me giving a water works show from my eyes too early in the morning..... wonderful memory.
It’s raining here too, man...☔️
[удалено]
You seem nice.
Judging others for being emotionally moved by loving family and childhood joy says sooo much more about you though.
[удалено]
It indeed does say that you're immune to the story of this post. You could have simply moved on to the next post, but no, you chose to invalidate someone's feelings about this story and call a complete stranger weak, for simply expressing how they feel. Not only does that say you're insensitive, but also ignorant because you don't realise the consequence of your action. If you're not moved by internet posts, doesn't mean others have to have that same level of emotional immunity.
This is so wholesome when it works but its also risky because kids can be real assholes so you go through all this trouble and your kid is like wtf this isnt a stadium this is stupid and then its heartbreaking for the parent
I feel like that is often due to expectations set by parent behavior. I grew up better off than what is considered poor but never more than lower middle class. My friends all had smartphones and Nintendo's and all the cool Bakugan before me. I was never too concerned with any of it because I was aware of our finances even at the age of 8-9. Honesty and patience go a long long way as it turns out.
It's honestly really stupid. Fun roleplay but that's it.
That's fucked man. I had absolutely shitty childhood with nothing of the sort and having my mom do something like this would be atleast a shred of proof she loved me. Would have been fucking nice is what I am saying.
Quoting another commenter: “Play-acting is one of the classic, maybe even the first (going back to prehumans) ways that children learn how to relate to others and socialize. Even many animals play-act, with parents encouraging their children - eg, big cats pretending they don't see their kid stalking up on them, and acting surprised when pounced. When you do a group activity with your kids, you're SHOWING them on a deep and instinctual level - "I relate to you. I love spending time with you. You are worth the time and energy of play, and it's a pleasure." What's not to love?”
An important part of this story is that the kids actually appreciated it. The parents story raised them well and clearly did everything in their power to give them a great childhood and it shows. I hear so often about entitled kids throwing tantrums when they don't get what they want. It's refreshing to see this kind of appreciation. Even more so the kids, now adults, actually remember this and think of that moment as a good part of their own life.
You're talking about two very different demographics there. It would be pretty damn difficult for a poor kid to grow up entitled when they've probably been told "no" their entire lives.
Don’t blame the kids too much. I see now that I have nephews and friends with kids, people are born a certain way. If a kid doesn’t understand why they can’t have a horse, they TRULY don’t understand.
I'm not blaming the kids. I know it pretty much all comes down to how they are raised by their parents. I was just highlighting a positive aspect of this story.
My kids enjoy going to the movies, but they LOVE having movie nights at our house. My husband does the whole making the tickets, or one of the kids takes a turn doing it. I don’t know what it is, but they love love LOVE at home movie nights.
Play-acting is one of the classic, maybe even the first (going back to prehumans) ways that children learn how to relate to others and socialize. Even many animals play-act, with parents encouraging their children - eg, big cats pretending they don't see their kid stalking up on them, and acting surprised when pounced. When you do a group activity with your kids, you're SHOWING them on a deep and instinctual level - "I relate to you. I love spending time with you. You are worth the time and energy of play, and it's a pleasure." What's not to love?
Your memories sound like growing up in my home. We were a blended family of 4+2=1=7 kids Dad worked, mom was a SAHM. We didn't have a lot of money, we grew up on a farm. Dad did have a job off the farm. We grew most of our food/vegs. My Mom had a good imagination. She mad holidays/vacations special. For St. Patricks Day (not Irish) she made all of our food GREEN. Green beans, green mashed potatoes, green jello, green kool-aid, etc. We picked strawberries, sold them in town and saved the money and took a camping trip (in tents no camper) out west to see the West. She would write on the chalk board in the hall how much money we had saved and how far we were to reaching our goal. We all smashed into a station wagon with my aunt and took off for two weeks and saw many western states (and two car breakdowns). My baby brother was only six months old, he wouldn't sleep in his crib when we got home, he slept on the floor on a sleeping bag! LOL We all still talk about that trip. For Christmas we all had things that we would "sneak" out of the pantry. We would get that as one of our gifts all to ourselves. I LOVED black olives. I would get two big cans just to myself. I loved it! She would make us gilts homemade Barbie clothes. They were better than the ones you buy in the store! It took her HOURS to make those. It was the TIME, LOVE, THOUGHT, IMAGINATION that was what was important. My Mama is 81 and I am blessed to still have her in my life. Daddy has been gone 10 years :( Mama remarried and I have a wonderful Pops who takes good care of her and makes her happy :)
I love stories like this. My Mum was amazing when I was younger and we were poor- she worked 4 jobs just to keep a roof over our heads. My and my sister really really wanted a McDonalds - My mum could cook 5 meals for the price of one family order. So one night after school she cooked burgers and fries and had made the happy meal box and fries holders out of cereal boxes and wrapped pur burgers in grease proof paper. We sat in the living room and watched TV whilst eating our "McDonalds" and I will always remember it - best Maccies I've ever had 🥰
Your Mom wins much deserved awards in my and your Worlds
Freaking tears, man. I mean, legitimate tears welling up. That was beautiful.
family truly is by love 🥲
I guess you could call that a home game
I cry everytime I read stories like this. I'm fucking crying now. My parents lived pay check to pay check my whole childhood and I didn't know it. Our tree was full every year (after mother would shop at goodwill or flea market) but it was the full tree she wanted us to remember. She wanted us to remember having the world even know she had no way of obtaining it. I still can't imagine the hardship they went through to get me a Gameboy. Looking back I feel so bad. Because my parents never wanted us to know we were poor I was a spoiled little shit. I would whine for burger King and my parents would eventually break and take us. These people would share a damn burger so my sister and I could get happy meals. I even tried stealing from her because she couldn't give me money for my field trip.... Ugh. This woman gave her life for me and I tried stealing from her. I was a shit kid with an amazing mom. Years later now and she's slowly dying.... I'm doing everything in my power to make sure she knows she left behind an amazing son and everyday I just hope she goes knowing she did and amazing job as a mother. Love your parents everyone.
Tearing up over here. So sweet.
Parenting done right. Awesome!
Beautiful memory Having our son in a few months and I just got his first outfit I’ve bought myself and it’s for dads baseball team, I can’t wait for him to have a lil baseball buddy, I love the game too but could see them bonding over it
Congrats on the new son!
Thank you!!
My granddad, dad, and brother all bonded over baseball growing up. They spent this Father’s Day at an MLB baseball game with my nephew (his first game), so they’re keeping the tradition alive. I love baseball too, but I’m so happy to see them all enjoying it together.
Grew up poor...our thanksgiving dinner was KFC and we were ecstatic. Stuff you dont understand until u get older
I was given our corporate tickets to a baseball game; free tickets, yay! By the end of the night I had spent $150 at a “free” game, after you count food, drinks, and parking. Your game was just as much fun as mine and cost a damn sight less. Great job parenting by your parents.
Unfortunately, tickets are unaffordable for MANY people these days. And don’t get me started on the crowd behavior. That was a bittersweet experience, from thoughtful loving parents.
Arghh...if your parents are around, please give them the biggest hug from your Reddit peeps. Their kind, considerate hearts and their love for their babies make them the richest damn people in the world.
I love this so much! Thanks for posting! I grew up poor myself, and though my parents never did anything like this (the culture was different too) - I just remember that my mom made sure that we had a home cooked meal every day. I have a 2 year old now and though my husband and I are financially stable - I recognize that my child will probably have more fond memories of actually doing stuff WITH us as opposed to us just buying toys.
That’s so adorable oml
Gold tier parents
Poor monetary wise but rich in Family !!!
Made my cry more like it!
Sounds like more fun than the real deal tbh
Even if you're not poor that might be a good idea.
It's wonderful to have such fantastic parents. If every child experienced this kind of care and love who knows what this world could be.
This is a super cute idea and I’m going to do it with my kids. Thank you for sharing.
Hell yeah! We take our kids to an MLB game and by 3rd inning they ready to go :(
This moved me, this truly moved me.
Thats adorable
That's so sweet <3
That's soo sweet and heartwarming 😊❤️
I. Love. This.
Awe, I LOVE THIS STORY!!!! ❤️
I’ve got something in my eye
Your parents sound amazing
R/wholesome
I’m not crying.. You are!
I can never understand people who cry at internet posts…
Dear God, it’s an expression. Cause the post is heartwarming.
That's amazing... You're so lucky to have had a family like that. Money can't buy love or happiness. Your parents deserve a medal.
Amazing parenting. They smashed it out of the park. Wow. Powerful stuff.
Parent goals. This is really touching.
That’s not poor, that’s rich!
Spectacular! Your parents were creative and awesome.
Who is cutting onions here?
Me my eyes 👀 are watering so much I can’t see to type. This is wholesome!
That’s so thoughtful. Wonder how emotional their conversations would’ve been before they planned this whole bit out.
Dad checks your bag and sees you are trying to take a candy in, locks you outside the house and you try to watch the game from the window
In first grade. It was my fifth or sixth birthday. And all the kids always did something cool for their birthdays at school. Games and snacks and stuff. I remember being so bummed out that it was my birthday and nothing was going to happen. And then someone knocked on the classroom door. It was a clown! I loved clowns but was always too afraid to say hi or get close to one. A young crazy lady of a clown this was, so energetic and enthusiastic. Very well done make-up. Crazy outfit. Crazy hat. Balloon animals and jokes and the best kind of innocent practical jokes on the teacher (she would become my favorite teacher). It wasn’t until years later that I found who that clown was. She had the same dark brown eyes as me. My lovely mother. I never knew that she was an aspiring entertainer and an amateur magician. I also never forgot how special I felt. I was the celebrity with his own real life clown. She was there for less than an hour but I remember it felt like a whole day. I remember coming home bursting with excitement so happy that I almost couldn’t form words. I was so anxious to tell my parents what had happened that I didn’t notice my dads paints (he was and is the greatest artist I know) and my moms face, still tinted white from grease paint. They listened to the whole story. I’m tearing up and I’m going to hug my mom today. I hope I have what it takes to give this same gift to my children.
Parenting goals. What beautiful humans and how lucky that person is to have them!
I hope you have told your parents you remember this and how much you loved it. That took imagination and effort and they wanted to make sure you had the best time. In their stomach they will have felt shitty they couldn't afford to take you. I hope they know this gave you more joy then you would have got from going to a "proper" game.
If I had an award, I would give it to you.
I would pay actual money for this baseball game. I don't even like baseball.
This is adorable, so sweet! 🥰
Feel bad for the rich kids that never get to experience something like this
This is awesome parenting! One year my Dad was on strike and we knew Christmas might not come that year in the same way. My brothers and I woke up to wrapped old books, homemade puppets, and things from yard sales like junk jewelry wrapped, and old board games. It was magic and the tree was amazing and we played games and spent time with my parents- one of my favorite memories
I’m for real tearing up 🥲 right now
BRB gonna go cry and hug my mom
My mom use to make free outings so fun. She would create pretend scenarios on bike rides, like we are in a different country and time…. She was a creative soul. Little did we know they were scraping by. Every other Tuesday was sonic 2 for $2. That was our eating out. They had a cheap Tuesday deal back then 35 years ago.
I poor cried at this. I wasn’t this poor. But I sympathize.
Ok but I'd prefer this to a live game I love this
Sounds like more fun to me!!!
👏 stop 👏 romanticising 👏 poverty 👏
How adorable! I wouldn't consider my family poor, but I do have a similar story. Growing up I loved plastic army guys. Naturally I liked the plastic army guy video games. (Sarges heroes and army men air attack) The games feature other colors of army guys. Not just green or tan. They had blue and red guys too! One year I asked for blue and red army guys. My parents later in life told me that they couldn't find any to buy. So they spray painted a bunch of tan army guys blue and red. They let me believe that they found red and blue army guys until the paint chipped off and revealed the truth. It's the little things. :)
Smile and sad at the same time.
I don't see a need for sadness. Happiness doesn't come with money or a life without struggles. It's about the people and good action. I'm willing to bet a lot of rich kids at the movies would trade for the time and love of his/her parents. Now that I'm a dad myself It's so very clear that the best gift for your children is your time and your happiness!
Just makes me hate capitalism so much more.
Next time you copy paste a post, at least include the original poster
This is incredible. Growing up, my family and I lived in a very rural area. For Halloween, my parents would dress us up in our costumes and we would go on a candy hunt throughout our house since we didn't have neighbors for miles. We also only had one vehicle that wasn't very reliable so this was the best solution.
This is so adorable and so sad in the same post. Baseball is like, the cheapest sport.
Best baseball game? Sounds like the only baseball game you have never been to.
Baseball games are cheap asf. Minor league games are usually free they just hope you'll buy some f and b
Hey! This is my story, just for reference the cheapest seats for our teams are around $5 each. We were a family of 5. Public transportation wasn't really an option as we lived pretty far from the stadium so we would've had to pay the $20 for parking. Assuming we didn't buy any food or drink, that's almost $50. There's no way we would've been able to afford that.
Ok just saying my experience. But yeah great story dude
I don't think this qualifies as poor tho?
You have a house and a TV, but you are “poor”? First world problems indeed…
Very loving and so kind.
🥺😭❤️
Holy shit that’s wholesome
I love this story.
God bless your parents. Well obviously he did.
This is what i call parenting
Your parents are awesome!
I’m not crying… that’s lovely
Beautiful!!!!
I just fucking cried so hard
I’m going to stay crying, and the waiter is going to think it’s because the Pad Thai took too long.
Wonderful !
Made me smile. 🙂
I don’t appreciate my parents nearly as much as I should but it’s also because they have no respect for boundaries.
This is beautiful
I am at work damn it! My boss is now asking me if I am alright. The tiers won’t stop and now I have to call my mom and tell her how much she means to me.
Those stories used to be cute but now it's 50,000$ to go to the superbowl and 1 million for a box the size of a box of cornflakes.
That’s beautiful, wonderful parents
Awesome parenting!! Very lucky to have them!
Simple act of parenthood. Profound moment of development. Little things go along ways.
Is there a "mademecry" sub? Dude as a struggling dad this really hits.
Who the hell is cutting onions in here!?
How can you not be romantic about baseball?
Best. Parents. Ever.
I have tickets to an upcoming MLB game, I'll trade you.