School got out two weeks ago tomorrow.
Since then we have thrown parties, gone to the Melodrama, had a few trips to the waterpark and dropped one kiddo off at history-loving camp. There have been some real highs.
There have also been a couple of low, low moments. Meltdowns of epic proportion have ruined large chunks of more than one day.
As much as I hate to admit it, the meltdowns were mostly me.
I really did not want to melt down today, so when my peanut was starting to be difficult, I took a deep breath and leaned in.
I am trying to do a series of speech videos with her–if not every day–regularly. She was CLEARLY not interested and started to misbehave. She had to sit on timeout, but rather than fighting it through and making the timeout the issue, once she pulled it together and came back to the table we restarted and actually got a lot done!
YAY.
Then she wanted to watch TV. Now, I’ll be honest. I am actually not a mom who limits screen time with my kids. We are pretty busy as a family. My kids go to a Classical Education private school, which mean they read (or are read to) a lot. There are also sports we do, church and youth group every week, trips to the water park and playing in the pool.
We fill their lives with so much good stuff, I don’t feel the need to battle about TV. We also can only watch things on video or DVD, so there’s not a lot of worry about the influence of commercials or things I don’t approve of.
However, today I just didn’t really want her lounging on the couch and sinking in for a binge-fest. Nor did I want to create a commotion over it. So I tried a new approach.
Without saying a word, I got out her light box and began to set it up. I added a dish of ice, food coloring, salt, a spray bottle of water, and a squirt bottle of oil.
While I was working on that, she turned off the TV and found some “homework” to do on her own.
When I finished setting it up, I left it.
Again, I said nothing.
A few minutes later, she began exploring…
The squeezing and spraying strengthen her hands. The ice is refreshing, as it has been so hot the heat radiating from the blacktop burns my feet walking in flip flops. The salt adds texture. Food coloring is just always fun.
She kept herself happily busy while I got some ironing done.
I didn’t melt down.
She didn’t veg out.
We all won.