About ten months ago, my daughter was invited to a birthday party at a bowling alley. She wasn’t even sure what bowling was, but since it was my husband’s turn to take her to the birthday party, she trooped off with a present under one arm. She came back, all alight and happy about the day and desperately wanting to go bowling again.
Family Bowling Days
A lot of bowling alleys are reinventing themselves to make them more family friendly. Two that I knew of in Virginia didn’t allow smoking on days that they were asking families to bring in the kids. Usually weekend mornings and early afternoons. While a lot of people imagine a bowling alley to be a smoke filled beer fest, most of them look like a typical arcade or Chuck E. Cheese, overflowing with laughing and playing kids on a weekend morning.
What makes family bowling even more attractive are these great anti-gutter ball rails that some alleys will use. For a five year old, it’s a challenge to just get the ball going in the right direction. The anti-gutter rails ensure that they will hit something when the ball gets to the end of the lane.
More and more, bowling alleys are featuring smaller, lighter weight balls that are ideal for the younger generation and when we head out to bowl, we bring our own balls but Cassidy still has to pick a small ball out for herself. There’s no worrying about score keeping since the boards automatically do it for you.
Family Time
When we take our daughter bowling, the games are not about winning, but about how well we can work on our form. They are about laughing and teasing each other. They are about splitting a big thing of French fries and a handful of quarters to play a few arcade games before we are done. They are times without cell phones, televisions, errands or work. They are times when Daddy and Cassidy can gang up on Mommy to get more points.
It’s also a place to meet other families and other kids and to make new friends. It’s a time that’s just for us. We leave as happy or happier than when we arrived. We never last much longer than two hours and we never spend more than $25 – but the family bowling is a fun treat that we look forward to every opportunity we get.
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