Summertime is here.
Kids are home all day every day.
It brings me back to our days of schooling at home.....
I do kind of like it.
I announced to my four little buddies,
"We are going to be spending a lot of time together guys.
We are a team, remember that.
Plan to work on projects together,
and having lots of together time this summer."
The flip side of summer is also
terrifying, and exhausting.....
the constant battle to keep kids off their electronics.
It is a never ending task.
I am 100% positive that it is the same for many other moms
out there...I know this because we talk about it,
and I hear you on the phone in the middle
of conversations, etc.
It is a CONSUMING issue for us all.
I can't come up with enough chores, and projects to slow them
down. They work fast and like a fine oiled machine when
they know when they are done they can get right back into gaming.
Only, I don't want that to be their summer.
I WANT THEM OFF THE COMPUTER.
OFF THEIR PHONE.
OFF THE INTERNET.
OFF THE T.V. GAME SYSTEM.
It is a full time job trying to creatively and peaceably try and assist them
with this goal,
because they are fighting for the exact oposite.
Here is what I love to see as a mom.
Washing dishes while humming a tune.
Happily reading.
Writing a report on the importance of honoring your mother
and father (had a little run in that needed addressing)
....and this,
working in the yard together.
They would never admit it, but they had a good time picking these
cut branches up as a team....
I was spying, they were laughing, having
CONVERSATION, and funny competitions.
It was not torture, no matter what they try and say.
Besides, I had already done all the hard work of cutting and
trimming to prepare this task for them.
We had a very enjoyable out doorsy trip to Asheville, NC with
Kevin last week.
The kids and I drove the 8 hours there. We spent 5 days river rafting,
(can't wait to do that again!!)
hiking,
Eating a lot of fine barbecue.
(Me, reading!!!! Happy, Happy, Happy!)
Climbing Chimney Rock,
Zip lining, and enjoying the Adventure Park.
It is so much fun now that M is finally old enough for us to
start enjoying these more active wholesome recreational activities together.
We had a wonderful time....all except for my speeding ticket : (
This trip was fun, and a great way to stay off the dreaded media....
sort of.....we did have some of that to.
Vacations are GREAT! But obviously,
all summer long cannot be a never ending vacation.
So that is what I am trying to figure out now.
A happy medium for all of us.
I love the new church magazines that came today, in
The New Era, there is a great article,
there are some fun ideas.
One quote I like is this,
"We know that spending time with our family is important,
but not every family gathering can be a planned, themed event.
So we need to know how to spend time with our parents and siblings
from day to day."
I bring this up because sometimes I feel that we struggle with
communication.
Polite, courteous, friendly, supportive conversations.
We sometimes get critical, cynical, and just plain rude
with one another.
In one of my many strategies of trying to get our kids off media and
into real life, and interacting with each other,
I implemented family board game time.
We kicked this off last night.
K had to head back to Asheville, so I corralled the kids,
and forced a game on them.
It was Hearts, to begin with.
This was a struggle from the get go.
M was pushed to tears twice, there was a lot of
LOUD yelling and accusations thrown about cheating,
and game wrong doings.
We tried two games total....it was completely frustrating and
bewildering to me.
So much so that I extended the program of family game
playing to every day for the rest of the summer.
I am doing this with the hopes that our
FAMILY CAN LEARN TO BE NORMAL.
I had no idea our boys could not function and play a real live
board game with out being insane and crazy.
Well, guess what?
We have a lot of summer to go.
I have HIGH hopes for them.
The night ended with me having to count several times,
"Ok, that's it.....1, 2, 3, 4, 5.....what in the heck?
These guys are all teenagers?!
I took away a sword, a phone, and one person got assigned
to write a report on respect.
Basically it was a major joke night.
..............
I have thought many times over the years
about an experience I
had with my own dad while we were vacationing with them in Utah.
We were staying with them at their previous home in
American Fork.
My sisters and I were having a late night game night,
playing Canasta and probably eating a whole ton of garbage....
(can't wait....only a few more weeks and we will be doing it again!!!)
We were trying to get dad to play with us,
(which he has numerous times)
but he was hum-hawing around and did not want to play.
I said dad, why don't you want to play?
It is so much more fun playing together.
He said, well I feel like it is just a waste of time.
?
I quickly retorted.....gee dad, it is never a waste of time to play
with your kids.
He agreed, and sat down to play with us.
Mostly I am sure I said this just to guilt him into joining us....
because
those words out of my mouth were really
meant for my ears.
.......................
It is certainly effort to play with our kids at times.
Last night it sure was.
But it feels like something that is vitally important.
In the June Ensign I stumbled upon another great resource,
there is an article I found helpful called,
There are many great quotes,
I will use just one,
"Just as honest toil gives rest its sweetness,
wholesome recreation is the friend and steadying companion of work.
Music, literature, art, dance, drama, athletics - all can provide entertainment
to enrich one's life and further consecrate it.
At the same time, it hardly needs to be said that much of what passes
for entertainment today is coarse, degrading, violent,
mind-numbing, and time wasting.
Ironically,
it sometimes takes hard work to find wholesome leisure."
I am up for the challenge!!
Is something working great for your family????
Share your successes...PLEASE :)
