Monday, April 29, 2013

Quality Time with the Lads

A friend posted on Facebook today that she had spent the whole day doing "nothing". I haven't had a day like that since 1998 when I used to go to the parachute center with Craig and he'd jump and I'd sleep in and then hang around in the caravan or cafe until he was ready to go home. I'd stopped jumping at that point but enjoyed going with him.

Then we came to the states in '99 and I haven't had a down-day since. Seriously I haven't. I'm a bit of a maniac actually. I can't stop. Can't brush my teeth without cleaning the sink and I can't walk from one room to another without picking up, moving, tidying, as I go.

What I have to do is stop volunteering because it's affecting my kids. As a working mum I only have nights and weekends with the boys but I seem to have them filled up with volunteer stuff all the time in their name.  Here's a classic example - On Saturday there was a big fete at Jack's school. It's a fabulous and fun thing with games and prizes and all the stuff of great memories. I decided to do a game so spent 2 out of the 3 hours of the event manning it (Craig and my lovely friend Maureen gave me a break). Last year I didn't take a break at all and never saw my kids.  Anyway, this year I had a "what the hell am I doing?" moment on Saturday as I was telling Daniel to stop pestering and let mummy do her job and I realized I was telling my boy to go away because I was entertaining other people's children. It was a moment I won't forget.

So I'll continue to help out, but from now on I will not be doing it at the expense of my kids. Nobody else does so why am I the fool?

Another thing I'm thinking of doing is getting Facebook off my phone. I'll admit I'm a Facebook fanatic. There's obviously a trend here hey - I don't do anything half-hearted!

I just need to spend more quality time with my kids. Filling their time with stuff is not quality time.

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