I will be honest: my small people have been off school for Summer Vacation for roughly 72 hours and in that time, they have been sent to their rooms at least 6 times for arguing.
Zero tolerance – that’s what I have for their fighting this summer. ZERO. We are all going to be spending a lot of time together and I refuse to get this party started by allowing them to think they can get away with constant bickering. I won’t have it. It makes my brain hurt. I love them dearly. They love each other dearly and for the most part, they do get along. But for some reason lately, they are on a mission to aggravate each other like it is their part time job. Or maybe they are just testing me. Either way, I’m not interested.
They can get along, pretend to get along, or get REALLY comfortable staring at the four walls of their rooms.
They upside? Their rooms are incredibly tidy, at least for this weekend. This is a first.
The other thing I can’t tolerate is the incessant, ‘what are we doing now, Mommy?’ Much like I refuse to spend the Summer as a referee, I also have no plans to don my Cruise Director attire. And ‘I’m bored’ will earn you a list of chores. So, my small people have already been warned to use their imaginations (oh, the options!!), to head outside to play (soccer, baseball, softball, basketball, hide and seek, ride your bikes, pickle, run through the sprinklers!) or pick up a book.
We have a regular date at the library and I’m proud to say, both Cooper and Delaney do LOVE to read. Delaney and I visited the library on Saturday. She borrowed fourteen books and is already done with four of them. We planned for her to tackle one a day, but she is already ahead of that. She just can’t seem to stop. I can’t say I think it is a bad thing. There is something about watching them curled up with a book that makes my heart so incredibly happy. I know they are learning, I know they are peaceful and I know they are anything but bored.
When I told them to find something to do this Sunday afternoon…. this picture above shows their choice. I believe the power of reading is extraordinary.
For our Summer, I’m focused on keeping their minds and bodies busy and making sure they know how important it is to continue being kind to each other.
We’ll see how we do. Fingers crossed.
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