This Little Boy Went to the Circus Instead of the Broccoli Farm, and He’s Furious About It
Parents live for the opportunity to surprise their kids with fun, unexpected treats. There’s nothing like seeing one’s child surprised and excited. That grinning and shrieking excitement is like a drug for parents, so sometimes a person will run a little parental subterfuge to orchestrate a fun surprise for their kids. It’s so much fun to tell a kid they’re going to the dentist but then take them to an amusement park instead! But that particular trick went a bit awry for one set of parents this week when they took their son to the circus instead of a broccoli farm, and it turns out he really, really wanted to see a broccoli farm!
According to The Daily Meal, 4-year-old Max’s parents told him they were taking him to a broccoli farm. Anyone who has seen Inside Out, or ever been a child in the U.S., recognizes that broccoli is probably the most hated of all vegetables for the majority of kids. Personally, I love broccoli, ut it does occupy a particular place in the cultural lexicon somewhere between shots and the boogeyman. So Max’s parents thought they would have a pretty fun surprise when they told their son they were taking him to a broccoli farm and surprised him by pulling up at the circus instead.
It didn’t quite work out.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=62&v=l7yMZGA2lzg]
Max is all excited when they first pull up. “Hi daddy!” he says with a big grin, when his father opens the car door. Then his father, clearly stoked about the big surprise coming up, informs Max that they are not at the broccoli farm.
“Where are we?” Max says, visibly concerned.
“We’re at the circus!” his dad says, expecting Max to squeal and laugh.
“Awwwwwwwwww,” Max wails instead. “I wanted to go to the broccoli farm!”
“Wait, Max, there’s elephants!” his dad tries.
“Max, it’s the circus!” his mom pipes in from the background.
Poor Max proceeds to well up with giant tears because he wanted to go to the broccoli farm, and now he has to go see clowns and elephants instead of broccoli.
As they take him out of the car for a fund day at the circus with his grandma, Max’s parents promise to get him broccoli at the store, or to find out where there is a broccoli farm that he can visit next time. Of course, his parents probably know–as does anybody who has ever spent any time with a toddler–that Max’s sudden-onset enthusiasm for the broccoli farm is not going to extend to the next plate of broccoli that is placed in front of him at dinner. By the time that rolls around, Max will probably be completely over broccoli and broccoli farms, and deny that this ever happened.
Thank God for camera phones. So many experiences can now be saved for posterity that would previously have been lost to the ages.
Max is adorable and he probably had a great time at the circus once he got there and saw the clowns and elephants. Toddler disappointment like this does not tend to last very long. Still, his parents are probably not going to try to surprise him again for a long, long time.
