I Didn't Mean To Traumatize My Kid in New Orleans

Seriously! I had no idea what I was doing, really.  Here's what happened. Me and the family were in New Orleans for a wedding at the beginning of March. It was a great trip and everyone had a blast but there was one night when we took the boys out to get something to eat and took a wrong turn.  It was me and the hubs' first time in the "Big Easy" so we wre just as excited as the kids.

An actual transformer - For Real!

Silver dude?

It was our first night there and we were trying to get the kids some dinner.  It was a warm night so it was a great night for a walk.  We were staying in the Hilton on St. Charles Avenue so we were right in the middle of downtown and very close to everything.   It was a Friday night so everything was still open.  I tried to do a quick search to find a place to eat before we left, but SMHDad was sure we could find someplace along the way, and why not, we're in a strange city, not a clue where we're going and out schlepping about with two hungry kids, yeah, perfect time to just wing it, right? I won't even answer that.

Sad we had to leave the transformer.

So off we went with the soon to be 2 year old in an umbrella stroller, and the almost 4 year old on foot, down Canal Street.  The place was pretty busy, duh.  We stopped at a corner where a few "young"- teenage boys were setting up to start playing live music.  There was a few drummers and a sax player.  It was kind of cool until Master M started holding his ears and saying it was too loud.  That was the first hint that we were in the wrong place.  I got the message, but SMHDad wanted to keep plugging on, so we made a right turn and started our decent onto Bourbon Street.   I know, I know, but I plead ignorance, total and complete ignorance.  I didn't know.  Walking down the street pushing a baby stroller ... Let's just say I felt wrong, very wrong, immediately. To make it worse, it was so crowded that we couldn't  easily just turn around, so we pressed on, furiously trying to find our way back to normalcy. 

My poor son, completely upset trying to walk covering his ears, which was completely useless because SMHDad was struggling to keep a hold of him as we navigated through the crowd.  Luckily, the toddler in the stroller was half asleep and totally unaware of what was going on.   We finally made it back to Canal Street and found a police officer who, after laughing in amusement at our folley, give us a few recommendations, which landed us at the IHOP, a perfectly safe place for kids.

Have you ever taken your child someplace then realized - uh oh bad idea? Tell us about it.  I don't want to feel alone.