A Mamma's mission

I love Wednesday's at home with Ava. It's my favourite day of the week where just us girls get to hang out and do fun stuff like go to the park, play dolls and dress up, go to the library and catch up with friends etc. And every now and then I stumble across an activity and think, RIGHT that's what we are doing this Wednesday, Ava will LOVE it!!

Sooooo the other day I was driving through Tempe and passed a circus. There were lions pacing up and down a large cage plus camels, ponies etc all on display.

My first reaction? Sadness. I was particularly sad for the lions that have been bred into circus life, sad they have never experienced the freedom of the African savannah, sad they were bred into a life of performing rather than ruling the land. My second thought? Conflicted! How Ava would love to see lions. She is so fascinated and excited by animals! You should hear her squeal when she sees dogs on the dog food bags at the pet supplies store...

I wrestled with it for a couple of days and decided that whilst I was against performing circus animals I would take Ava to look at them between performances. I was doing it for her right? She would thank me for it one day right? Sadly, we are not going on safari anytime soon, so the circus it would be to see her first wild animal.

So off we headed on Wednesday afternoon. We'd already had a big morning at Bondi junction and Ava had refused to sleep when I put her down for a nap after lunch. Heading there in early peak hour traffic Ava naturally fell into a deep sleep. But I soldiered on, as there was no turning back now right?

We arrived at a nearby park. I put her in the stroller still fast asleep and pushed her to the lion's cage. I am always in awe of lions, their magnificent manes and that imposing strut! I wanted Ava to experience their presence so badly but she was out to the count! I even lifted her out of the pram and whispered, the lions go roar bubba. Mummy loves lions and I hope you get to see them in the wild when you are bigger. But Ava slept, in fact she snored her way through it. SNORED even as we went cross country to see them!!

Talk about a mamma on a mission! As parents how often do we compromise our own beliefs for our children?