to not understand why so many local parents didn't take their children to the o/para/lympics?

[LongStory]

So the Olympic park is fairly local to me, I'm not a massive sports fan but this is a once-in-a-lifetime something special. I took the kids to a few events especially at the paralympics where it was easier to get tickets. They didn't cost much and in fact most of them only cost £1.40 if you deduct the cost of a child's travelcard.

I had to be a bit organised - buy the tickets, book days off work, sort out/swap childcare for the children who were too young, pack lunches for the day, get up early etc etc. It wasn't rocket science and it didn't cost a fortune. Cheaper than a trip to the movies.

Now we're back to school I'm amazed that lots of seemingly on-the-ball parents haven't bothered to do this, with no clear reason, or no regret. I don't understand (a) why so many didn't, and (b) why this makes me soooo cross.

I think we all as parents spend a great deal of time doing stuff we'd rather not to promote our children's welfare or enjoyment. Doing that does not require one to "get behind Team GB." We do not, at least not yet, live in a fascist dictatorship and if i wish to decline participation in sporting patriotism I am free to do so, and i do not expect to be criticised for it.

My daughter is 5 and sat still through 4 paralympic games. We live in Southwest London and I was very lucky my sister had the time to seat at her computer desk and buy tickets for us. We arrived at the Olympic park at 8:am and got back home 11:30 pm. It was awesome and I appreciate other children wouldn't have endurance to do this. However not to be allowed in the Olympic Stadium was a big disappointment and food/drinks prices were disgraceful. I know was free drinking water and I took a packed lunch that quickly was gobbled up.

KarlosKK my comment (19.39) was in response to your question about my emotional reaction. I was however questioning my reaction not criticising. Totally agree about how we spend our time - now I really can't be bothered with the school run !!!

I would have loved to take my children. We really enjoyed following both the Olympics and Paralympics. I thought that the tickets were around £30 each for adults, which is out of our budget. l also know lots of people who were unsuccessful in getting tickets so I thought that they were sold out.

We're not local but we travelled down to London & went to the theatre I stead. That us what interests us- not sport.

My dd hates, hates, hates crowds and noise. I did think very seriously about taking her, but had a good idea about what her reaction would be. This would not have been an enjoyable day out.

We did go on the cable cars though!

"I'm amazed that lots of seemingly on-the-ball parents haven't bothered to do this, with no clear reason, or no regret."

I don't understand why you said that.

I was surprised how few children there were,full stop.
But it was big days,and Im not sure I would have taken the kids tbh

Believe me, I'm not interested in sport either. Not in the slightest. Nor is my ds2.

I still think there was a huge amount of enjoyment to take from the whole thing, especially the Paralympics.

If I have no interest in sport, I have even less in athletics. But there is no way I couldn't be impressed by a guy with one leg doing the high jump, or be interested in seeing how blind footballers manage to kick a ball accurately, or be moved by being in a stadium full of 80,000 people cheering the last man round a track or singing the national anthem when someone so close to home achieves a dream.

I don't understand people who haven't got behind Team GB, or the team from their own countries

I don't have anything in common with these people other than happening to be born in a similar geographical area with arbitrary boundaries.

I was born closer to some people in Team France than I was to Andy Murray, for example.

And I don't really care about sport.

So I'll feel a small happiness when someone wins and I hear a good story about it (e.g. Kath Granger and her 3 silvers then a gold when it might have been her last chance) but that's because it was a good story, not because I care that someone born in the same administrative area of the world can throw something farther than all the people born in other places.

I'm not really as cynical as I sound there, but I could be and it wouldn't be at all unreasonable.

That's nice to hear Sheep.

Ds2 has aspergers and doesn't like being too crowded. He managed fine at the events because he really wanted to see them, and at the marathon today people were lovely. I put a small blanket on the floor in an attempt to help him have some space, and the other people who were there were very understanding and let him have space, one woman was even telling other people to stand back when it got very crowded towards the end.

cost, availability of tickets i imagine
i read tickets were hard to come by
not sure it costs same as cinema trip

I did :) Took my nearly 3 year old DD and it was a fun day. Had seats at the end of the row and only 20 rows from the track. We did pop in and out with toilet breaks and snack breaks as she's so young she wouldn't have been able to sit through the whole session. Even though she won't remember it she'll have the pics to look at when she's older and can say she was there :)

Maybe they didn't want to.
Maybe they couldn't or didn't want to get themselves a visa card so they could.
Maybe you're getting too uptight about what other people do with their time and money.

ExCel day passes were excellent for those living around London. We paid £30 for two adults and two children, you could go in and out of all the different events there, we took a packed lunch, got free travel on the DLR, and parked the car all day for £2.00 at the car park next to the Tower of London.

Bargain!

We paid £30 for tickets for a family of four to the Paralympic athletics.

We also got free zone 1-9 travelcards with each ticket so we didn't have to pay the thirty odd pound it would have cost us to get across London before 09.30.

I don't think this was very well publicised and i don't think people were aware of just how cheap some tickets were.

I agree people weren't aware of how cheaply it could be done. I only discovered it after hours on the website.

I don't like sport. My DD is two. I work full time and spend enough time on the tube as it is. Not my idea of fun, and YABU.

I would however make huge efforts to go to something that I genuinely thought she would enjoy, but would not judge if others didn't fancy it, or see it as a 'must do'.

Very sensible. I didn't take my younger children. My 7yo struggled with the day but says he's very glad he went.

I agree that it wasn't publicised how cheaply you could do it. When i ordered our tickets. (£40 for whole family) It said that it included a day pass to the Olympic village, but there was no mention of the zone 1-9 travelcards we were sent for us all.
Fishwife1949 Thanks. See my two comments at 19.17. Wish I had realised now!

Being from the midlands and having no transport or cash i couldnt have gone no matter how much i wanted to.

Being that I have no interest in sport (unless its one of my DC playing it) I wouldnt have gone even if i lived next door, had free tickets, and someone gave me a piggy bag to my seat at the front... tis not for me is all. I expect there are many things i like doing that you wouldnt want to do.

I swapped our 4 tickets for an event for a bag of Percy pigs and a small box of thorntons. Dd thought we got a great deal!

I find it hard to imagine not being interested or wanting to go but not everybody enjoys the same stuff.

Also, though the paralympics were cheap with plenty of available tickets, the olympics were expensive and tickets were hard to get hold of so taht would have been a problem for many.