I spend a lot of time grooming our children into the people
that I want them to be as adults. Strong. Independent. Intelligent.
Compassionate. Polite. With that comes a lot of teaching, structure, discipline,
rules and (most important) consistency. In
doing that, I have been known to forget that every now and then they need to
just let loose. And then I feel bad for the same strict structure that I
enforce because I know is so good for them.
One-on-one time with my Bugs is oh-so-important and before C was born,
it was so easy. I mean, when you only have one kid, one-on-one time is all the
time…everything you do…it is built in by design. But then you have a second child (or any
subsequent sibling…parents with more than one child will immediately relate,
but the concept is elementary regardless of how many kids you have currently…or
if you even have children). And as amazing as that younger child is…and as
amazing as the relationship is between those two children (my Bugs don’t just
love each other, they LOVE each other…nearly inseparable and they each think
the other one is **perfect**)…they each need, crave and DESERVE one-on-one time
with Mamma and/or Daddy.
Then it becomes a matter of scheduling. Find a sitter for one kid while the parents
do something with the other…or split the kids between the parents (Mamma and
Daddy each take a child and do something one-on-on)…or once school starts, do
something with the younger sibling while the older one is in school (assuming,
of course, that your child goes to school outside of the home). The one-on-one time is no less important with
multiple children…it just requires a bit more creativity in scheduling.
K started Kindergarten in August. Yes, I know that was 6
months ago. C is not old enough for
Pre-K, so we get a whole year of school-days together…just us. And so we’ve had
a good amount of one-on-one time. But it
occurred to me last week that we haven’t used it to do anything special. No
trips to the Zoo, no Children’s Museum…just normal day-to-day stuff like
errands, chores and the occasional extra playground trip, bike ride or long
walk. WHAT was I waiting for? It won’t be long before school is out and
one-on-one time becomes harder to schedule…then it’ll be August again and he’ll
start Pre-K (just two days a week, but still making for a slightly less
flexible schedule) as K moves on to 1st grade. OMG…she’ll be moving
to first grade…in just 6 short months…woah. That’s another post entirely.
So last week, we packed a lunch, gathered snuggly jackets
and a blanket (it was a bit chillier than I anticipated) and headed to the
Zoo. And we had a blast. We got there just after they opened and
didn’t have to be concerned with time (I’d already decided that C could skip
his nap as long as he was having a good time and behaving well). We visited gorillas, orangutans, antelope,
and giraffes. Then we enjoyed lunch outside the aquarium. When it got too chilly to continue sitting
outside to eat, we finished our lunches inside the aquarium as we watched the
penguins jump, swim and waddle. Then we
visited the tropical rain forest and the big cats exhibit. There were very few things that we didn’t see
or do, but we kept a leisurely pace and took our time watching the animals
play. We spent a great deal of time
looking at the lion cubs. C was so excited over the ‘baby kitty cats’ that he
wants to have his own baby lion. LOL. I
suppose every kid feels that way when they see infants of another species…but
it is still so stinkin’ cute to hear it from your own child’s mouth. So
innocent in their understanding that in just a few short months, that sweet
‘baby’ would be the largest thing in the house and not suitable for life as a
domestic pet.
It was a wonderful day full of things that HE loved…no
errands, laundry, dishes or other household chores. Just the things that an
almost 3 year old boy enjoys…and he has talked about it non-stop since. Yes, I was
‘behind’ on the laundry and chores that I would like to have done before the
weekend. No, I wouldn’t trade those few hours for anything.
~Jac
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