One of the things I love about being a mom is getting to
spend one on one time with my kids. They
spend a lot of time together, and for the most part, they get along pretty well
- with a few pushy-shovey-he-said-she-said-that’s-mine-no-it’s-mine
thrown in for good measure. Because
really, what would parenthood be without those special and important parts of a
parent’s resume: peacekeeper, disciplinarian, human lie detector, etc.? You get the drift. But when they’re together, they’re always in
some kind of competition with one another; for my time, for hubby’s time, for
the stuff (whatever that stuff may be).
I mentioned several (ok a dozen or so) posts ago that one of my new favorite things is the kids sweetly competing for hugs from me in the
mornings before I leave. The hug from boy-child, who relinquishes me to his sister so girl-child can hug
me, but then he scoots around us so he can get behind her for yet another hug
from me, then she follows the pattern, and so on and so forth until I have to
say, “Ok guys, I’ve really got to go!
Love you!” and scoot out the door.
This truly could go on forever, but I love it.
However, when there is an opportunity for me to spend
quality one on one time with one or the other of my kiddos, I do my best to
jump on it. They each know that I love
them and care about what they have to say, and this alone time is an
opportunity for me to prove it. Not with
stuff but with time.
Tonight, Hubby took girl-child to Girl Scouts. So boy-child and I went to Firehouse Subs and
had a mutually agreeable dinner together and the conversation spanned from
school, to standardized testing, to Minecraft, to the new-fangled drink machine
the restaurant has, The Weather Channel, weather in general, and opinions about
many other topics. My son has an amazing
capacity to understand things far beyond his 11 years; he is so wise. Then we hit the local thrift store, just to
see what they had, and as we wandered, we searched for various things that
might interest us – just because. He
wanted to get a Beanie Baby for his sister.
Then we found a t-shirt that says, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”
on it and he said, “MOM! Don’t you think [girl-child] would loooo-oooove that?” So we got that, too. He’s a sweet kid and thinks of his little
sister even without a parent prompting him.
Now we’re home, the laundry is tumbling, teeth have been
brushed and we’re hanging out together talking about a game on his tablet
called “Hay Day” – which is kind of like FarmVille, but not. And he has been touting the virtues of
becoming a landscape architect “because
it’s so satisfying to arrange things on [his] farm so they are pleasing to the
eye.” I’m quoting; that actually
came out of his mouth.
Anyway – I really enjoy hanging out with my kids. When boy-child goes to Scouts with Hubby, I
hang out with girl-child and that can mean anything from cooking a simple meal
together, to just throwing together a snack plate (covering all the nutritional
bases, of course) and curling up in bed together to watch a Disney movie. We talk about all kinds of stuff too, just different stuff.
I guess that I’m kind of lucky that I actually enjoy my kiddos. I know there are lots of parents out there
who think of their kids as accessories, or worse, a burden. I feel sorry for those parents. They have absolutely no idea what they’re
missing.
TTFN
JMS
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