“My children are the most ungrateful so and so’s on the face of the earth”, is what I was thinking as I stood in line at the cinemas waiting for my much-earned English breakfast tea with one sugar, designed to soothe my frazzled nerves and prevent me from reaching for mindless handfuls of movie popcorn during the latest kids flick I was being forced to see.

Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against Alvin…and the Chipmunks…and the Chipettes. It’s just that I would love to be sitting down to any other movie.

Being a good mother and all that, I instead booked tickets to see the latest Alvin movie with my three offspring. I was excited to take them. They had laughed and squealed in delight during the preview a couple of months before when we were watching the previews before …

Again, not my first choice.

We left the house in what I thought were reasonably good spirits and it wasn’t until I was halfway down the driveway that I noticed my oldest was in a stinky mood. What I should have done was drive straight back up that driveway, herd them all inside and close the door, claiming a disease outbreak at our local cinema, thus maintaining my good mum status. Instead I figured he’d cheer up once we got there.

We made it to the candy bar before all hell broke loose due to a misunderstanding about which snacks they were allowed to choose and why.

It’s not that I am necessarily against the idea that the movie snacks normally cost me more than the movie tickets themselves, it’s just that I prefer my children not develop Type 2 diabetes over the school holidays. Plus I remain in denial regarding the fact they are clearly ungrateful and spoiled.

The rule we have always followed – but they continually claim not to remember – is that they each get to choose one sweet snack and one savory snack. A slushie equals a sweet snack.

They headed straight for the crap lolly section which …

Then grabbed lollies…

Discussed popcorn…

Couldn’t choose…

In the line I lectures them…

In the tea line a mum and I shared a sympathetic smile.

I hope they enjoyed the movie today because that’s the last one I will take them to see for a looooooooong time.