Every day begins with tea, then coffee, ends with wine. That's not healthy and whilst I am working on that I do wonder how I got here. Small person was watching Kung Fu Panda fighting bad guys the other day and in an attempt to connect with the snarling child I asked "ooh, how does he do that, does he have magic powers?" "No mom!" He snapped. "He is using inner peace!". Lucky him, peace and agility, mind you he doesn't have a 7 year old moaning "I'm bored" every 15 minutes.
To be clear, small person goes to various camps throughout the summer. This is week 6 of a 10 week summer break. He has been rock climbing, scooting, played floor hockey, soccer, basket ball. He has painted a cheetah, learnt circus skills, been whale spotting. Hardship is not on his list of things to gripe about. He also had a week hanging out with me, unplugged and "entertain ourselves". That's when the boredom first surfaced. I was searching for a metaphor yesterday to explain to my husband what it feels like to have a bored child complaining for days. I think I found it...imagine you are on a 8 hour flight with a kid in the seat behind who keeps kicking your seat, nonstop except when he is eating. That's where the tea, coffee, wine come in...although that's not his doing, that's my lack of panda inner peace at play.
So what to do? We went out for a meal last night, nothing fancy. Small person was stroppy and octopus arms. He knocked over a glass of wine that soaked daddy chest to crotch. So we are now avoiding public places. Small person has struck a deal to have "big brother play dates" with the 4 year old son of close friends. They played together for hours on Saturday with next to no drama, so that is looking great. Camping? We are test driving our new tent next weekend...hopefully 24 hours without electricity will bring some calm. Plus we are camping down inToronto near the British Grocer, so we can restock the beans and Branston on the way home!
I am cutting out the wine from today, for all of August. We'll see how that works out. Work wise, still underwater but my latest plan is foolproof...go home on time. That way I will have time to exercise and I can spend time with the small person (short bursts...nothing too planned). He hates me at the moment because I am mean. Daddy and I call it parenting. Small person calls it mean. I don't think kids should play out in the semi dark at 9.30 at night; I don't care if his friends are out running the streets. don't think that watching grand theft auto is okay for kids aged 6 to 8. I don't care if his friends play it all the time. I don't agree that the TV should be on at meal times; and our latest point of contention...if we are going out somewhere as a family, daddy and I don't want to bring street kids with us. So all in all a lot of disagreements and "mean mum", door slamming, some bad language. So grounded a fair bit...which...wait a minute, means he stuck in with me and boredom. Hmmm, he has his own little cycle of life going on there.
#need 2 days alone at a spa.
Talking of circles a recommend this cool online class exploring Mandalas. It's fabulous, if a little addictive
Namaste
