Up until about a month ago, the only way for the boys and I to have a really good day was to go outside and play. They needed (or more accurately, the oldest one needed) to run around, jump off of high things, pedal his bike, run as fast as he could, and yell at the top of his lungs in order to stay in a good mood the rest of the day. Of course going outside to play didn't guarantee a good mood, but it made it more likely. It was always, always worth a try.
It would be an easy thing to do every day if I wasn't so lazy.
Sometimes I want to stay in my pajamas. I get bored with the thought of going across the street to throw rocks down the big grates - again. I don't want to walk all the way to the park. Sometimes I haven't showered and so I don't even want to walk around the block. Sometimes it is raining and I don't feel like doing all the laundry that comes after jumping in puddles. Sometimes I just want to stay inside. Sometimes I think they will be fine if we spend the morning inside.
I always get burned.
The worst part is that not only do I end up having to deal with the meltdowns, but I also feel guilty that they are so grouchy and miserable because I know I had a good chance to prevent it and I didn't. So then we eat lunch grumpy and I truck Jett off to school grumpy and he doesn't want to stand in line and he yells at his friends and I stand there feeling guilty and embarrassed. And also resentful that we can't just have a nice relaxing morning at home. Don't most kids have nice relaxing mornings at home? How does that happen?
And then my kids started doing this.
They started doing arts and crafts all morning.
All morning long. Then again after school. Then again after dinner.
I hope this arts and crafts phase lasts all winter.
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