to want to take the kids to see the olympics

[Zettelbox]

I love rowing. I did it at uni and loved it. I then moved far away from a suitable river/club and didn't do it. But I'm still a fan and really enjoy watching it on the TV when it comes to the boat race and olympics.

I have 3 DC who will be nearly 7, a few days off 5 and 22 months in August 2012 when the rowing events are on at the olympics.

I was planning to apply for tickets for the family for the rowing sessions, with the exception of the youngest who will stay at home with GPs that day.

DH reckons it'll be an utterly grim ordeal: we'll have to get up way early to get there in time, huge crowds of people, overpriced food and water, might not be able to see much and kids will want to go home after half an hour. Says I should get a portable DVD player to take with me to keep them busy.

I think there is an element of truth to what he says. I'm sure he's right about the crowds and the overpriced everything, and we probably won't be able to see the event better than if we watched it on the telly. And the events with cheap entry for kids are the crappy warmy-up events with no medals.

So should I bid for tickets for the family? Another option is for me to go with one kid to one event and him to go with the other to another, but he's not particularly keen on anything, and if we bid for two separate events it's unlikely we'd both get tickets, and one child might be forever jealous of the other.

So the question is, is it a good idea to take the kids to the olympics (we live a good 3 hours drive from London, probably 2 hours drive from the rowing event venue) or would it be a once-in-a-lifetime unspeakably grim ordeal involving queues, overtired and overheated kids, I-need-a-wee-can-we-go-home-now stress. WWYD?

we are going to try. We live closer tho (a train ride away) and have kids who will be 7 and 5 by then. I reckon we'd handle daytime events. And if we get closer to the time and decide we can't handle it, i know a few people who would buy tickets off us.

I agree with your DH. I think it'll be awful.
a 5 year old isn't going to want to sit around and watch rowing for very long. which means you'll have to leave, or go and come back or whatever.

Just really stressful.

So, I would go by yourselves and get someone to have ALL the kids for the day.

We've applied for 10 sessions (don't expect to get all of them) and our ds's wil be 4 and 6. One of them is rowing (rowed for 6yrs at Uni) and I'm sure they won't sit still for all of it but at least with rowing you can wander up and down the course and so on. Also, I kind of see it as a once in a lifetime event that I'd like them to experience.

I'd love to go to anything and take DS who will be 12 by then, but am having trouble getting a flippin' Visa card!!!

I went to several events at the Sydney Olympics - including the rowing. While I loved it and most kids were engrossed some did get bored. The events the kids were obsessed with were things like the white water events and volleyball. All the faced paced events. Go if it is anything like Sydney it will be great.
We took the school I worked at at the time to the Paralympics - they loved it.

We are going to apply for some slightly odd events - but I don't think there is any point going to anything for which the TV coverage will be significantly better than seeing it live- like rowing and swimming. Whereas more stadium type events like basketball and athletics have a real atmosphere, plus you get almost as good a view as you do on TV.

I certainly wouldn't be taking small children given the prices. Can you not just go with your DH and leave all the kids with the GPs?

Another ex-rower here, I would love love love to go and watch but my DC will be 2 and 4 and DH has talked me out of it, for the reasons you have mentioned. I have heard of there being big screens set up around the country to watch the events, I hope that is happening. I think that would be a better idea for us.

i think taking a really young one would be awful!