We were driving to piano lessons last week and for some now-forgotten reason I mentioned a situation where someone was a reluctant participant. Sam mulled it over for a second and replied faintly, lost in thought. "Yeah. If I ever start a band, that's what I'd name it. The Reluctant Participants." Ha! I'd venture to say that, at some point in the hike through adolescence, just about every kid is a member of that particular band. (If you have one of the rare specimens who isn't ever in that category, give them a big kiss on the forehead and call yourself lucky.) 

Speaking of reluctant participants, over the weekend I posted a link on our Facebook page* to a hilarious post by Camilla Fabbri chronicling a visit to an art museum with her grumpy 12-year-old. The photos exude that stubborn, you-can-make-me-attend-but-you-can't-force-me-to-like-it charm of a pre-teen enlisted in an activity against her will. ​

Hats off to Camilla! If you can't escape it, at least you can take pictures to document and entertain, right? (And, honestly, humor seems to be the best weapon when encountering chronic ennui. Looking through the photos, it feels like her daughter started engaging in and enjoying the photo shoot despite herself!)

It reminded me of a trip I took at the height of my too-cool-for-family-vacation stage. I could not be bothered to engage in much of anything and was an extremely reluctant participant in the whole adventure. Luckily there are a few (though small) photo artifacts documenting that trip:

Grand Canyon? Please. To show excitement would be weakness. Don't bore me with your natural wonders and fantastic vistas. 

Excuse me while I avert my eyes from such silliness. Just give me my walkman, my 80s knock-off wayfarer glasses, and my 7-up-scented Bonne Bell lipgloss and leave me be.

What do you do when you have a reluctant participant on your hands? Were you ever one yourself?  Also: Bonus points for photos. 

*come on over and follow us on Facebook for updates on posts plus extra helpings of tidbits and links that catch our attention or our fancy ( now that I think about it, I'm not exactly sure what a "fancy" is. I just know when it's been captured.)​ Just click "like" on the Nest & Launch FB page and pull up a (Facebook) chair.