Really, I Don't Know WHAT Happened to Your Videos

Sometimes my love of Mandarin backfires on me.  Not often, but it happens.  My desire for my children to learn sometimes has me doing things that make my life a little more difficult.  (I mean besides the long jaunts to our Language Stars* classes and our even longer drives to the non-profit school on Sundays.)  

Due to the holiday this week, we have no Mandarin classes at Language Stars.*  (I HATE that!  No Mandarin class makes me sad.  I mean, what WILL we do with the time?)  So, we were discussing this on our way to the car on Saturday.  My daughter, ever the opportunist, sees her chance.  AS SOON AS we get in the car, she says, "It's my turn to choose a video."  (This usually means some annoying princess video that my boys HATE--sorry Disney--and whine about all the way home.  But, sadly, it WAS her turn.)  And what does she pick?  THE MOST ANNOYING VIDEO ON THE PLANET which I must admit that I purchased.  

And why did I purchase it?  To help my daughter with her Mandarin, of course.  It's a Four Golden Princesses video.  When we first started classes, we used to watch their videos on YouTube.  It's this group of 4 little girls who made all these singing/dancing/dress-up videos in the early 90s.  Cute, to a point.  Well, at least the first 50 times you watch it.  When I saw her interest, I ran right out and ordered--not one--but TWO of them!  And, they are L-O-N-G.  An hour and a half of annoying little kiddie tunes (some traditional Chinese and some translated from English).  They probably made at least 15 to 20 of these.  I didn't know there were that many annoying kiddie songs in the world.  Understandably, my sons HATE these even more than the regular princess videos.  

So I said, "Honey, why don't you choose a different video.  The boys don't like that one very much and it is really long.  (And I really hate it.)"  Her priceless reply?  "But Mom, we need to practice our Chinese.  We don't have class next week, right?"  Foiled again.  She uses my own reasoning against me.  Needless to say, we were stuck watching that video for the next hour and a half.  The good news is that I can sing several of the songs.  The bad news is that I can sing several of the songs.  I think those videos need to be misplaced.  Especially before she uses the but-we-don't-have-class-this-week excuse to watch one again.  

Thanks for reading and Happy Thanksgiving!  :)

*We receive a 50% discount for blogging about our Language Stars experience.  Awesome all the way around!  We love their classes!