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APRIL
2003 - SMALL
ON VACATION...BIG ON CLOSENESS
Before I get started, just a little update about my daughter Rose, who
I wrote about last month. We have met with her teachers and after gathering
information about retention and its lack of providing positive results,
we are persuading the teachers to not hold Rose back, but get her the
services she needs that accommodate her learning style. Since the last
article, a nice mom who is a teacher has offered to share what she knows
about retention. Just shows you how we can all help each other Thanks!
This month I did want to highlight something I learned while on vacation
with our family. A very simple lesson, but important none the less.
We decided to head out to the Washington coast for a few days as a family
over Spring Break. We had a wonderful time, playing on the beach, building
castles, playing in the mud, going hiking, and playing games at night.
I realized how important it was for us to leave home where there are
no jobs that need to be done and no phone constantly ringing with something
to take us away from our kids. Being away gave us a chance to just hang
out all day with no big agenda like we sometimes have on bigger vacations
where we feel pressured to see it all. With just a simple vacation we
were able to play all the board games our kids are always asking us
to play. I even played in the middle of a sunny day out on the lawn
because I finally had no pressures to do all my "stuff" that
I do at home - one more load of laundry, fix that whatsit, make that
phone call, etc. I brought prepared meals with us so even cooking was
no big deal. It was really nice for my husband to be away from his demanding
job, where he is constantly being paged, even at home on weekends he's
not on call.
So, with a little distance we gained a lot of closeness. I'm going to
try to remember to do that more often. Of course, it would be even better
if I tried to incorporate that into our daily lives. It is so easy to
say that I'll put down that job and just spend some time with my kids,
but looking at all that I have to do is hard for me to ignore in reality.
I am a constant doer and I have a hard time not answering the phone
when it rings. We used to have Friday night as our Family meeting night
(see Systematic Training for Effective Parenting) and then we'd have
game night. We try to still work in game night, but we need to get back
to having it be official and think of things to discuss at our family
meetings, even if its just positive stuff only. So there's my goal for
this month. Stop and smell the Rose . . . and the Keith and the Emma!
It goes by so fast. But knowing myself, I want to set a realistic goal
of one night a week dedicating solely to the kids. Then I'll work on
the rest of the days. I know a goal that is too lofty won't be reached.
A little change at a time I can do! Afterall, my first "job"
is being a good mom!
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Visit Heidi's Handmade Jewelry Site
Teach your children essential tools for life. Heidi's husband Nick is the author
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