Nine parenting Lessons Re-Learned: A Weekend of Grandbaby-sitting
Not my home, but a similar mess
Losing the tv remote can be a good thing. (Really, we didn’t fake it.) The morning was more creative, less argumentative, and they “forgot” to have the morning snack they usually think they need.
Kids love, and need, to be needed. With a freezing cold day ahead, and all 3 kids sniffling (ages 6, 4 1/2 and 3, in case you were wondering), I declared the “activity” of the day would be laundry. The littler ones fought for the right to fold the kitchen towels…and they figured out stuff to do when they weren’t “helping.” Also told the 3yo (boy) what fun it would be to take a paper towel and get on the floor and make all the water drops disappear. Child labor. Don’t tell my daughter.
What a gift to have siblings. See corollary.
Corollary: sometimes it’s best to separate said siblings and tell them they are not allowed to play together until they figure it out. Do not become a referee except to call time out - from each other.
Not everything has to be recorded on the smart phone. Record it in your mind. Savor the fashion show (the older 2 are girls, not that that matters to a fashion show but you might have been wondering), the puppet show, reading in the teepee. Stay in the moment and savor, savor, savor- for this too shall pass and the next one may be the blood-curdling scream the youngest emits when overwhelmed.
If possible, have a partner who will babysit with you. When I was a single parent, one of the hardest things was having no one to turn to when the kids were being awesomely cute…or when they weren’t. Or when they needed to be in separate places with separate adults. So grateful for my husband right now
Getting outdoors, even for ten minutes, can be a game-changer. See lesson six. Very rare that all three want to go outside at the same time.
Make sure you have 2 Aleve left in the bottle for when you go home.
Notice what fantastic parents those three kids have, Count your blessings.
