In honor of a bunch of Dead President’s, our district has Thursday and Friday off.
Winter Break and stuff.
Two days trapped in my house with the kids wanting either, but not limited too:
Have friends over.
2.) Eat continuously. (Our budget is stretched thin and I have $20 until the next payday for any food we run out of between now and then.)
3.) Beg and bribe to go to the store so they can spend the money that is burning a hole in their pockets.
Go on the computer.
Go to a friends house.
Have a friend spend the night.
Annoy the cat.
Watch TV until their brains slide out their ears.
Go outside to snowboard down the drive way only to return moments later citing issues with the cheapie boards, no snow on the driveway or they have to pee and take off all their crap and decide it isn’t worth it to get dressed again.
All my attempts at Enforced Family Fun will be met with blinking.
If anyone is looking for me, I’ll be in a fetal position in my closet.
My sister’s kids have the whole friggen week off. Of course, it’s been at least 4 weeks since their last 2-week vacation. It’s definitely time for another one. Oh, let’s not forget the 2 or 3 snow days they’ve had since January 4th. And in another 5 or so weeks, they’ll have another week off. God forbid they actually go two whole months without a vacation.
So, this means that I get to spend 11pm-7am working. Then, as soon as I get home, I get to watch the kids, because these kids don’t believe in sleeping in on their Vacations (what the hell is WRONG with them?) While I’m watching the kids, I get to try to study, in spite of the constant interruptions for requests or demands for just about everything.
Actually, I consider myself pretty lucky this week. The 10-year-old isn’t being irritating and the 14-year-old hasn’t threatened to kill anyone. We’re all actually getting along very well.
Two more days.
Please God, don’t let there be a blowup of epic proportions this week. I can’t deal with work, school, and homicidal children - all at the same time.
It totally worked for my dad, although I question the wisdom of giving a blowtorch to a 14-year-old girl and expecting her to melt the paint off the garage and have it repainted before he got home from work. I have to believe he was stunned and amazed that, when he finally got home, the garage was still there and not burnt to a crisp. If we had been boys, that garage would have been, quite literally, toast.
Seriously, you’ll either make a dent in your honey-do list, or your kids will learn to never cry “I’m boooooooooored” ever again.
If you need a list of chores I was forced into every time there was a day off school (and all summer long), please let me know. I’ll be happy to list my manual labor accomplishments.
My daughter is also off Friday. For President’s Day you may wonder? No, for Rodeo Day. Yes, I live in a county that the schools are closed for a three day weekend because the rodeo is in town.
With the county fair and the show in town, at least they have lots to do to keep them busy on their day off. Unfortunately, I need to take a second out on my house to afford the prices.
This is a good one. While they might work up even more of an appetite, I’m willing to bet that they won’t nag and whine nearly as much. Write up a long, long list, and start it off with things that must be done every day. All the kitchen cleanup, dusting and sweeping and vacuuming (but not the cat, unless it enjoys being vacuumed), and then there’s all the deep cleaning stuff that YOU’VE been too tired or busy to get around to. Things like taking down the light fixtures, dumping out all the old bugs, cleaning them thoroughly…stuff like that.
Depending on how old they are, they might also be hired out as babysitters or housecleaners. Once a week, they will be taken to the store/mall to spend their hard-earned cash. If you allow them to keep it.
Also, are any of them having problems with their schoolwork? Set them some homework assignments. Even if they don’t have problems, set them some assignments. They don’t get to do fun stuff til they’ve finished their assignments to your satisfaction.
They will learn to amuse themselves very quickly, I assure you.
