Winter Has Gone On Too Long!
"Snow days," Wind chill days, Winter Weather Days, Sick days, Holidays! My boys have been to school 1.5 days out of the last 10 - how about yours? Even the homeschooling & preschool mommies have been coming into Indigo Forest looking wild-eyed & shaking their heads with eye-rolling, rueful grins. It's the time of year to tease mothers into making it to spring, "Please don't eat your young! LOL” For at the very least, late January is the teeth-gnashing season of championship whining and sibling snippiness, and child wars are at their worst.
Depending on the age and temperament of your child(ren), here are a couple of ideas that have seen us through some dark days of winter with the younger set over the last decade.
Candlelight breakfasts. It's a still-dark morning, and the kids are inexplicably waking up grotesquely early. Too young to be ignored, though we try anyway. Candlelight encourages whispering, a feeling of special times, and the everyday made unique. If you are coping with a little baby at 5 am, put on Linda Ronstadt singing baby lullabies in the background while you waltz your baby around and remember how much you love them. With the walking & older crowd, pick your favorite low-key, favorite-memory music, and bravely make silly, inspired-shape pancakes with chocolate chip or raisin faces. You might even make it to lunch!
2. Popsicles in the bathtub. For years, this was my favorite save-the-day coping strategy for kids big enough to be left alone safely in the bathtub. Children find it a novelty to eat in the bath, moms find it a novelty to not have to clean up drips! Bathtub wonderfulness can stretch to include making lots of suds & giving them ice cream scoopers to make sudsy 'cones', switching out their toys for kitchen items like funnels, little dishes & glasses, or putting natural food coloring in the water to spice it up. Those past the age of drinking-their-bathwater will spend a great deal of time playing 'tea party', hauling suds in small dump trucks, or both! Save your floor from a sea of water with the handy tub shelf that makes every kid and mom sooooo happy! Otherwise, you'll just need ample towels soaking up extra tea party on the floor.
Those a little older may like using swimming goggles or a snorkel in the tub. And be prepared to sit nicely on the toilet seat, good-naturedly counting while they hold their breath under water over & over. In really desperate times, combine for candlelight baths!
Here's the tough love. Pretty soon they won't LET you in the bathroom while they bath, and this tiresome and repetitive moment will be fondly remembered. Plus, how much have you sat down today? Breath deeply of the humid air and experience great great gratitude you are not heating bathwater from snow on the frontier like Laura Ingalls’ mom Caroline did 200 years ago; things could be worse than sitting with your safe children in a clean humid bath in January.
3. Jumping, Forts & Picnics. Think 'outside the (cardboard) box!' Grab the couch cushions, send the kids on a search for every-single-pillow-in-the-house. Pile them off the edge of the couch, bed or the last carpeted stair (if you're really brave.) Set some simple ground rules about one person jumping at a time, stay near doing something critical but out of their way (like laundry-folding), and let them go at it. Especially if there are young boys in your house, they may tackle this, sweaty and satisfied, for hours!
Or have a stack of blankets waiting for them after your (candlelight) breakfast, and announce in a breathless whisper that it's........'Fort Day'.....!! Be prepared for this to get taken out of your hands immediately, and DO NOT try to hold them back to make it to your vision or 'right'. This one is especially fun if it breaks some rules, like happening in the formal dining room over the fancy table and such.
And count on it falling apart to tears, accusations and despair a few times. Put on your curious & non-reactive voice, and get in there with your amazing kids, soliciting their ideas and helping them try some ideas out. THIS little tiny moment is not about a winning design, it's exactly when you get to model for them problem-solving and being-in-the-moment. Don't forget the flashlights, and to pack a picnic lunch!
This is also the perfect time to find a large cardboard box (appliance size is really fun). Let it take over the living room, and carve out some windows, stars in the ceiling, & a door. Each kid gets their own wall to decorate - crayons, markers, and even stickers work (great time for all the free address stickers from the mail). They can 'move in' with stuffed animals, blankets & more.
Boy do I understand how really challenging it is to muster some creativity when we're worn down and drained. Yet the wonderful thing about parenting is that it's 90% sales, and so nearly any moment can be steered by a conspiratorial lead-in..."Have you ever taken a candlelit bath wearing your purple goggles?" Giggle giggle, "Me neither! You're going to be the first in our WHOLE FAMILY! :)" So summon a little bit of enthusiasm and a smile, and hang in there - the first day of spring is not too far away!