Midwinter Complaining

username11

Tue, Jan 23 2024, 4:44 pm

mha3484 wrote:

They have a huge bucket of lego they make all kinds of stuff with, they have a bunch of other toys, books, learning packets, and later in the afternoon when the computer is free they can have some screen time. My kids b'h mostly like each other and play decently. They are not malachim but they are taught from a youngish age to self entertain.

Sounds so nice, I have 2 and they are 7 years apart so can’t relate

amother

Navyblue

Tue, Jan 23 2024, 7:07 pm

As a full-time working mom, I resent winter vacay because it means using up precious annual leave and sometimes taking leave without pay if there isn't enough leave left over after all the midweek yomtovim. I imagine that moms who work on straight pay per hour and don't get annual leave resent winter vacay even more.

What helps is preplanning activities for each day of the vacay. Weeks ahead, I look up and make a list of free or low-cost attractions. I also look up various crafts and activities to do at home and acquire the necessary materials if I don't already have them. Each day is planned, usually an outing in the morning, then home for lunch, then a craft or game in the afternoon. The kids usually have school assignments like reviewing Chumash for X minutes a day, that we fit in usually while I'm getting things ready for the planned afternoon activity.
I deliberately don't rush through anything except getting out the door in the morning, because I want to get to where we're going right when it opens. Everything else is leisurely because I want to fill up the day.
No my kids aren't exceptionally compliant. In fact they always without exception complain about going anywhere, doesn't matter where, but afterwards they're always glad they went.
One of the activities is making supper one night. They have free rein. If they want to make PBJ sandwiches and chocolate milk, fine. If they want to serve pretzels and applesauce, fine. if it's not winning any prizes for balanced nutrition, it's just one meal out of the roughly 1095 they consume per year and won't kill anyone.