Why does it take 12 hours of continuous vomiting for me to just chill and relax my standards a bit?
I've been single parenting for 9 days. I was attempting to do it while maintaining the same rules/standards/whatever that I do when my husband is home. (My incredibly helpful, supportive, dish-doing husband....nothing like 9 days of doing your own dishes to make you appreciate your spouse!) No TV; Daily exercise; organic vegetables; clean house; Get to work on time; Volunteer; Everything.Perfect.
You know what? I can't do it.
Today, I let the kids watch 2 hours of TV. (My daughter normally watches about an hour/week.) They saw SpongeBob SquarePants for the very first time. I served
crackers and banana bread for lunch. No vegetables or fruits to be seen. I canceled my "Big Sister" activity for the day.
Husband D has been traveling to Asia 3-5 times/year for the last 5 years. I've always tried to manage our life on my own while he's gone. But today - today, I found a sitter to come help this afternoon. In 8 years, I've never done that before. We have sitters for dates - or when I need to work - stuff like that. I've never hired a sitter just so I can have a break. It feels positively decadent.
Everyone I know is working so hard to make sure our children have the ideal childhood. The best schools. The most stimulating toys. The healthiest foods. The most enriching activities.
And we are all raising lovely, well-behaved, well-rounded, intelligent little creatures.
But you know what? SpongeBob SquarePants is really funny! Maybe a little decadent mind-numbing good-for-nothing time-wasting sprinkled in with all that enrichment is good for us.
Maybe the "best" childhood is the one that doesn't always focus on doing what is best all the time...
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5 comments:
Dan's only been gone 2 days and my standards are already out the window. We watched Spider-Man AND Ice Age 2 yesterday. Dinner was pizza and cookies. I can't see the floor of any room for all the toys.
Bitty actually looks forward to Daddy leaving town - he knows all rules are out the window then!
If it makes you feel any better, your day of lax standards sounds suspiciously like 75% of my standard week (minus the sitter)!
Amen.
Good for you, K! I think it's wonderful that you can recognize your need to relax a little.
Uh, in my house, banana bread counts as a fruit. Especially when NSAH is away...
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