i followed a bunch of like "family fun suggestions in portland" accounts on instagram and i don't like how they keep suggesting privately owned, for-profit indoor play spaces that charge money and aren't municipal :/
i'm not paying $12 to take the lads to MonkeyTown Fun Factory TM where they have a coworking space and a cafe that serves egg bites. i don't want to normalize that sort of thing. they'll get weird ideas
i just don't like things being private when they should be municipal! i'm sorry! i want the employees to be in a union and i want robust protections against discrimination in a purpose-built space i partially own via taxation! i want it to be venture capital proof!
yeah, the creeping privatization of Kids Fun as i grew up meant it was way too easy to get paywalled out of “having friends” or “doing anything.” is this why i smoothly transitioned from a child running around outside to an adult recluse who clomps around in the woods trapping mosquitoes? probably!
i do also feel like our classic go-to workaround for the other kids without $12 did involve riding bikes/scooters/roller skating/etc through the neighborhood, which is less safe in the “every car is a goddamn tank now” era
I am presently in my hometown, where going to the public pool was $5 for residents and $7 for non-residents — AND IT STILL IS but it’s a splash pad now, but both of us need a ticket and it’s online only and they don’t accept cash. SIGH.
I can go to the history museum for like $7/each plus parking. There’s a zoo that I might take him too. There’s a CFA w/ a play place (good bc he can climb, snack, repeat), BUT I NEED A PLAN FOR THE WEEK and I want to die
