I volunteer at Texas Children's Hospital on Fridays. With the kids out of school for the Christmas break (which I will soon post about, as well as Thanksgiving) I decided that I trusted my brood well enough to go ahead and volunteer -- leaving Jaden to babysit for 5 hours. Our kids get along fine, for the most part, but when we leave they always have access to electronics and basically they're en route to bed. Yet leading up to that particular Friday it sure seemed like we had had our fill of electronics. And so I made the questionable decision that there would be no electronics while I was at the hospital that day. Instead there would be chores and good old fashioned play.
As I whisked out the door my manifesto went something like this: "Morning, get yourselves breakfast. No electronics today. Here's a list of chores as well as a list of ideas for play. As in, you should play together, of course. It's a long time for me to leave you all to your own devices, so please get along. Call your dad if you need anything. And lastly, be grateful you are home for the holidays, happy, healthy and entirely capable of playing to your heart's content unlike most of the little children I'll be visiting today. When I get home I'll ask each of you how you felt you were treated by the other. If you get a good grade from your siblings then I'll have a good reward. So go and do, my little pretty's . . . " Or something like that.
Upon my return, I was pleasantly surprised to have found a seriously cool Master Planned Community for Lego guys and Polly Pockets, chores completed, as well as the house kept up and positive sibling relationships still intact (or at least as much as they would have been had I not left). I was really proud of those three that day. As you can see they were rewarded with their favorite cupcake from Crave. Which is fitting because after visiting with sick children and run-down parents I most certainly Crave my three hooligans and the average day. I can't wait to get home to them. There hasn't been a Friday pass that I haven't been slapped with a good dose of reality that undoubtably helps to keep things in perspective around here. I'm so grateful for my children's health first and mine and Kyle's second.
