I always think we can squeeze it in later but by the time everyone has a snack & goofs around, it's just about time to start dinner...Michael has homework...there is fighting...someone is howling about an injustice...and by then I'm just salty and don't feel like making any effort at all. And there isn't time after we eat because it's already started to get dark earlier in the evening & once we do the time change, it will be even worse.
So I decided that today was the day. We were already outside when Michael's bus arrived. After he went inside for a quick bathroom break, I gave each of the kids a treat from their Halloween stash and with some degree of whining from Michael, we set off on our walk. Michael had to ditch his bike before we even started because it turns out both his tires are pretty much FLAT. He was a pretty good sport about it
Neither Michael nor Liam did a great job of listening and I was convinced we wouldn't make it home before someone got hit by a car. Also, we usually stop at one of our neighbor's yards to look at the coy in their little man-made pond & today, I'm lucky that no one fell in (again with the not listening). Chloe was buckled into her bike for most of the walk which is the only reason why she stayed put.
The debt to income ratio in this instance was undesirable to say the least.
Energy expelled (by me) was much greater than the fun had (by anyone).
I'm going to try again tomorrow anyway. Practice makes perfect, right?
4 comments:
Oh this strikes a chord. From the time my son was in kindergarten until 3rd grade we had "outdoor time" after school in all but the worst weather. Sometimes it was only 15 minutes but sometimes it would last an hour and a half. I think being outside every day was good for all of us.
But then he started at a magnet school in 4th grade and doesn't get home until 4:15 and has a lot of homework and it fell by the wayside. I thought I'd start it up again for my daughter this year when she started kindergarten, but she fell into a homework then tv routine and it's harder to get her outside once everyone's settled inside, as you note.
I tried this same thing with my three the other day, and it was kind of disasterous too. Sigh.
Yeah, I've been doing this, but it's harder than it seems and almost impossible now that the time has changed. You're right - everyone needs a few minutes to debrief, go potty and have a snack, and by that time, getting back outside is tough and you are thinking "I need to start dinner in 15 minutes?". Where I am, I feel comfortable letting the big kids outside by themselves in my yard where I can watch then, but then the toddler is crying at the door cuz he wants to go. UGh
Also, regarding the blog roll thing - I just got 5 posts all at once in google reader from you. I wonder if it had something to do with the new blogger format? I haven't tried that yet, so I don't know anything about it.
That's strange Emily...I wonder why? I only switched the format for abotu 5 minutes but I think the delay was there before I switched. Maybe it's back on track now-- especially since I've fallen off the NaBloPoMo bandwagon :(
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