A
friend’s Facebook posting yesterday made me feel guilty for what I’ve allowed my
almost 10 year old to do a lot this vacation. Veg. Watch TV. 5 episodes of ANT Farm
in a row in one morning. Headphones on watching Austin & Ally on her new iPod. We gave her the Disney Infinity Xbox game and my hubby & I played with her on that a little bit
over the past few days. Oh, and Facetime with her oldest friend. (They gave each
other tours of their houses…a little odd since they’ve been to each other’s
house.)
But…
Ever
since she was born, I’ve treated her as a person, not as a child. Meaning that people have
different needs at different times. When she was an infant, we specifically
messed with her schedule. The thing is, life doesn’t always happen as scheduled and
learning how to adapt is important to my husband and me. Sometimes there's an accident closing down 95 and you have dinner an hour late. Stuff happens and the ability to adapt quickly to the situation is crucial. I also want her to say yes to opportunities that are outside her comfort zone. She has learned well and when confronted with a change of plans (whether from us or others), she acts just like my husband - a couple minutes to ruminate and she's on board.
We started traveling with her at age 4 months - her first cruise on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas out of Baltimore. (Don't tell my Papa Bill - he thinks we've only been on 1 cruise without him...) She loves to travel and adjusts quickly to new challenges. We see so many parents that lock themselves in their house once the baby is born...that's not us.
For one thing...
Luke & I worked a lot. He moreso than I, so the demands of his schedule made me step back from my career. Although
I don’t do it anymore, I worked 60 hours/week many times in my career. Granted,
I’m an accountant and it’s not like I was saving lives in an emergency room.
But I did have to be “on” and when I got free time, I enjoyed it. I needed down
time. I needed to watch TV and distract myself. But we definitely had a "Work Hard, Play Hard" philosophy.
Lil
has worked hard for the past few months. She performs with Ballet Mobile, a
non-profit classic ballet troupe that visits retirement homes and rehab centers to lighten the
residents’ hearts. She practices for many hours each week. At school, she tries
to help out teachers and other students. Luckily, she completes her homework
quickly. But she’s doing a lot of above-grade level work and there’s a lot of
pressure at school and she places a lot of pressure on herself to perform well.
And sometimes we contribute to that...So…
I
want her to chill out. She had one performance during the break, but no
practices/classes. (Although she dances everyday regardless of venue…) But I
wanted her to play with her new Christmas gifts and enjoy the lack of schedule.
She embraced vacation – few expectations of her, apart from putting her
breakfast bowl in the dishwasher. She got her first pedicure. She did crafty
stuff like her rainbow loom. But she did watch a LOT of TV & worked on her
YouTube search abilities for Disney Tween content. She danced to the music on the TV, set up little forts on the floor and the best was her sweet giggles when she laughed.
Today
was a little different. We were cleaning the house, putting away laundry,
preparing dinner and we only played 2 games of Clue with her. She had wanted to
finish the gingerbread house and play Apples to Apples with us. When I told her it was time to finish her Facetime chat, she responded, “It’s only because
you haven’t been playing with me.”
Which
means…
Christmas
vacation is over! (But possibly to be followed by a snow day on Friday!)
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