This year I get to enjoy my school aged children and have a laid back attitude because I decide to. And because I won't be working around nursing and napping schedules. And because I am sleeping through the night uninterrupted by children or snoring husbands. Oh, wait. Never mind that last one. The point is; I am not going into this summer break filled with anxiety and dread about entertaining my threesome.
And no, I do not have them scheduled for activities every week during the break. I am a firm believer in teaching the children how to be b-o-r-e-d. There is great value in having time spread out in front of you with no real plan. This can also back-fire, but I have a solution for the inevitable 'Mooooooooooom, (sighing the word with lots of variations of tone) I don't have anything to doooooooooo. (again with the sigh and tonal inflection)
My 2 responses:
"Oh, good! I have plenty of chores waiting in the wings for such a moment as this."
or
"Go look at your poster board."
I have been using the first response with great success for a couple of years now. The second response comes from an idea I stole from ....... wait a minute ...... I just went to my bookmarks to find the link from the blog who came up with this great idea and now I can't find it. AAAAggggghhhh.
Anyway, if it is you, please claim it in the comments and I will give due credit.
May I present ::drumroll, please:: The Poster Board
Well, Maddi's poster board to be exact. Ellie is still working on hers and she won't show it to me until it is finished. Ben said he would do his later ........ and he only wants to swim and ride bikes.
Some of my sweet baby girl's (I know she is 12 but she will always be my baby girl) ideas include:
- win a staring contest
- build a tree swing
- read the dictionary
- make an ivy crown
- cover the entire driveway in sidewalk chalk
- learn the French, Spanish and English ABC's backwards
- ride a city bus
- drink a whole cup of coffee
- play the guitar in a public place
- make homemade ice cream
- dance in the rain
- visit farms
- use Morse Code
......... and more of the like. I *love* this child. If you can help out with any of the things on the list, let me know. I would be so happy if she could put a check next to everything on her list before she begins 7th grade.
And ......... because I am starting to feel just a little bit of anxiety and dread at having to help her accomplish her summer list ;)
**update** I found the link. It was Meg over at Whatever.
**update** I found the link. It was Meg over at Whatever.
6 comments:
We are big (well, maybe not really big, but we love it) homemade ice cream makers. Now, I firmly do not believe in turning a crank by hand all afternoon, but your darlin' is welcome to come over and create the ice cream and then sit by the electric turner and add the ice and rock salt all afternoon!
Now that is what I am talking about! Woo-to-the-hoo ...... homemade ice cream here we come.
Oh, and the hand cranked ones are for losers ;)
She would totally beat me at a staring contest - darn contacts, but Jason is ALWAYS would be a true challenge. His opponent is usually the dog. :) I can tie a cherry stem with my tongue (don't ask) and would love to help Maddi learn. Write me down.
Lisa - I am NOT going to put you down to tech my daughter how to tie a cherry stem with her tongue.
I will mark Jason down for the staring contest, though. Or, did you mean Beans?!
It's not often that I admit I look up to a person younger than me...after all it's called looking up for a reason. But my Mads makes me want to be a better person and I luv her for that!!!
I am more than jealous!! I would love to be able to make a list like yours and actually be able to complete it!! However, I am a slave to the grind, freaking job that my husband won't let me quit! I really need to win that lottery!!!
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