Today Facebook is exploding with “hip hip hoorays!!!” as we all joyfully ship our offspring back to the walls of academia. It’s time to get back to work, yo!
I feel your relief, people. I do. I really felt for the working parents out there, responsible for supporting their families, who had to scramble for child care the past two days. I had a single working mom, I get it. I’m sure that was anything but fun.
But for those of us who have the privilege of “staying home” with our kids, it was mostly a matter of just not getting anything done. And by anything I mean putting away the holiday decorations, getting to yoga class, stocking the pantry, organizing the piles of gifts we all got, catching up on our social media platforms, doing laundry, etc…
I mean, really.
After seeing post after post of parental “UGHs!”, and “OYs”, and “AHHHHs!”, I started to wonder why we were crumbling under the weight of yet 2 more awful days with our annoying children. Then, Truman overheard a phone convo. with the producer of my Tuesday morning WGN segment and our agreement on the topic of “ways to "get through” the snow days with kids, and he softly mumbled, “I KNOW, because it is SOOOOO awful having us home, right?”
He shoots…. he scores. Ouch.
I have to admit, the constant string of social complaining was beginning to get to me. I had to shut it down.
Don't get me wrong, being stuck inside with my two boys definitely had its challenging moments. They got sick of each other, they bickered about some pretty inane topics, I had to tell them 37 times to put down their phones, and it took an hour to agree on which movie to watch Monday afternoon. I had to raise my voice a few times. I get it.
But was it really THAT hellish? Not really.
And can I get all that stuff done now that they are back at school? Pretty much.
Jon and I were discussing this morning the collective disgruntlement that permeated the interwebs the last two days, and he said something I found profound.
"People bond over the bad. It’s simply more acceptable to commiserate with each other, than posting “hey I’m having a fun day with my kids!”, or “I just had a great talk with my teenager”.
He’s right.
It’s the same way us girls find it easier to talk about how awful we look, and would never dream of saying “I am feeling really beautiful today!”
I’m guilty of this too. I can be an over-reactor. I can be all “I have to drive HOW FAR for this basketball tournament this weekend?” Instead of first considering that the 45 minutes in the car with my 11 year old boy could possibly be turned into something good.
So today, I want to hear something GOOD. Tell me something you did during the 2 extra days off with those kids you really do adore, that was fun, or silly, or playful, or just pretty good. Maybe it was a lovely 15 minutes. Anything!
As my awesome blogger friend Danielle Smith often posts on her FB page:
“Tell me something GOOD!”
I want to hear it. I am giving you permission to brag.
I’ll go first.
Yesterday Max got to assist me with my early morning TV segment and did a great job of being my prop manager. Then we all went to lunch at their fav. place and around 6pm we decided to build a big nest of pillows and blankets in the living room, eat snacks for dinner and watch “Grown Ups” by the fire…which at 16, my son is now a master at building. boom.
Oh, and on Monday my husband got to work from home and we had a morning walk to Duncan Dounts, during which our boys romped and tackled and played in the snow like they we little again. And they made a WICKED AWESOME snow fort Sunday night. That’s 3 whole good things.
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