You may have noticed that I took a little time off from the blog there for a minute. It was sort of on purpose and sort of not-on-purpose-but-actually-because-the holidays-were-a-little-overwhelming-and-I-sorta-lost-track-of-time.
It is an interesting feeling to take time off from something you love and enjoy. I love writing and look forward to writing stories for the blog. (It is possible that I look forward to writing because I know it happens after the kids go to sleep…) But I didn’t hate not writing for a few weeks. Sometimes you have to miss something to appreciate it, I guess.
Of course, writing isn’t the only thing I had to take some time off from over the holidays. This being their father’s Christmas, my kiddos flew to his house on Christmas Eve and didn’t return until January 2. Bill’s kids, in turn, spent the 10 day vacation at their mom’s house. I love my kids. All of them. But I also didn’t hate not waking up at 6am for a few days.
Bill and I noticed that right before the holidays, parenting becomes a bit of an uphill battle. (Like climbing Mt. Everest in a blizzard wearing flip flops.) We were faced with our normally well-behaved (ish), controlled (just go with it), polite children’s increasingly ridiculous behavior. We knew that given the constant influx of sweets and gifts, their behavior was normal. We were worried that if we continued to discipline and correct behaviors the way we usually do, that we would regret not having just enjoyed our children during their last week with us.
We made an irrational, unprecedented decision. We stopped parenting.
That’s right. We threw out bedtime. We watched movies as a family all cuddled up on the couch on a school night! We didn’t make them pick up their junk. We didn’t do dishes. In fact, we didn’t cook – (the real meaning of restaurant week). We ate dessert even when broccoli was still on the plate. We loved and hugged and played games.
We didn’t tell the kids we were taking some time-off from parenting. We just did it. At first, I think they thought they were getting away with something. The big kids slowly realized something was up, but something crazy happened: It was as if they realized they were being given a gift and were scared they’d lose it. So they were unbelievable well behaved. It was probably the best week we’ve ever had as a family. Messy house, dirty dishes, late for school, but focused on fun and family.
When it was time to let them go, we were ready. We kissed them goodbye, loaded them into minivans and airplanes and tried not to cry as they drove and flew away.
Then we took a little time-off of our own. We spent the week pretending to be grown-ups. (This worked really well until we turned to each other in the middle of a club on New Year’s Eve at 2am and shouted, “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’RE STILL AWAKE!” “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’RE STILL AWAKE” )
When all the kids finally came back last week, we wanted to make a special afternoon for them. Unfortunately, we live in a tiny town that was not prepared for our plans. The pool was closed. The bowling alley was closed. The roller skating and ice skating rinks were closed. There weren’t any movies playing they hadn’t already seen. All they wanted to do was go to Chuck E Cheese.
Chuck E Cheese is two and a half hours away.
Good parents would know better than to drive two and a half hours each way on a school night. Good parents would have calmly explained why that wasn’t a choice.
We took just a tiny bit more time-off from “good” parenting and drove those kids down the interstate to Chuck E Cheese. Yes, that means they went to bed at 10pm on a school night and yes, the next morning was a complete and total disaster, but those were some pretty happy (albeit exhausted) kids. That’s how we like ‘em. Tired and happy.
New Year’s Resolutions? We’re gonna take a little more time off. Between ice skating lessons, archery club, volleyball, Girl Scouts, basketball, swimming lessons and Bar Mitzvah training, it will be hard to do in the next few months, but amid all this chaos, we will find time to make sure those kids are tired and happy.
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