Bring Back Big Families

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to take in the FIA World Endurance Championship Lone Star Le Mans race at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX. I’ve been a racing fan since I was a kid, cheering on Kyle Petty in the #44 Hot Wheels NASCAR, and had previously only ever attended one race in person, an IndyCar race back in 2014 at Texas Motor Speedway (that was five kids and what feels like a whole lifetime ago). So when the opportunity to attend this year’s WEC race in Austin arose, I couldn’t say no.

Doing anything like this with six kids is a logistical game of Twister while juggling chainsaws and trying to balance Fabergé eggs on your forehead. That is to say: nearly impossible. So, I made the decision to go only with my brother and his son. Guilt settled in pretty quickly as we drove onto the property, knowing they wouldn’t be there to take part in it with me. The Goodyear blimp greeted us, and the guilt grew even stronger after that (even seeing that was treat in and of itself, as no one in my family, to my knowledge, has actually ever seen it in person).

It wasn’t guilt that I was there; rather, it was guilt that they weren’t. I found myself longing for them all to be there with me, my wife and I wrangling all six of them in the rain, struggling to get them seated and happy and to the restroom fifty times. It would’ve been chaos. And yet, I missed the chaos.

Don’t get me wrong; I had a great time. It was an amazing experience I won’t soon forget. But the trip did serve another purpose; now I know exactly what to expect when bringing them next time, so we already have a trip to the NASCAR race there next February planned. The restrooms have all been scoped out, the food offerings (and exorbitant prices) have been noted, along with the free water stations. I now have a mental plan of how to accomplish said goal of bringing all six to the track.

This leads me to my ultimate point: the inexplicable fear of taking children into the unknown strips us all of opportunities to experience things with our kids. I know for a fact I have skipped events in the past with them simply because I had no idea what to expect. So, in a lot of ways, even though I missed having them with me, experiencing it for myself gave me an opportunity to scout for future trips with them. It gave me the peace of mind to know that bringing them would be okay, even if it was a bit stressful. Nothing will ever completely remove the stress of taking six kids to a truly global event (I saw people from every walk of life and, presumably, from numerous countries around the globe. The three people I sat next to on the tram back to our parking lot sounded like they were speaking German. The WEC is, as I stated, a truly global event), but doing a solo recon mission of sorts like this one gave me an incredible sense of peace of mind as I plan outings for us in the future.

The bottom line is this: I had a blast at the race. But I know my wife and kids would have too, even if it literally rained on our parade the whole time I was there. I shouldn’t have let the fear (or even the fights among those who didn’t go) keep me from taking at least a couple of them with me to experience it.

And that is my challenge to you. Don’t let the irrational fear of the unknown keep you or your family from experiencing amazing things. A healthy amount of fear for the well-being of your family is necessary, but don’t let it get in the way of breathtaking experiences. The race was truly that, and now I’m feeling guilty all over again for not letting my kids experience it. I will not make that mistake again. And neither should you.