Posted on 7 Comments

Preventative Medicine

Yesterday was the last day of my vacation. The plan today was to spend most of my waking hours wading through email and processing orders, but when I woke up this morning to the sounds of the Bicker Brothers in the other room, I knew it was not to be.

At the zoo

On those days when the little people are fighting before they’re even out of bed, there’s very little escaping an argumentative tone between them for the rest of the day. It is not the type of day when I can retreat into my laptop while they happily entertain themselves. No, days like this require diversions.

At the zoo

Big diversions. How about a trip to the planetarium? Nope. Closed on Mondays. Maybe a train ride? Nope. Our train line is running buses this week due to electrical work on the tracks. Hmmm. Grandma’s house?

At the zoo

And maybe a trip to the Bergen County Zoo with Grandma? We could see monkeys, bobcats and alligators, and maybe even snap a picture of a grumpy bald eagle. And after we’ve watched the prairie dogs artfully arrange their holes, and after we’ve been meowed-at by the mountain lions, we could end our trip with a ride on the carousel.

At the zoo

And then another ride, just for fun. Yes, I think that would improve the day’s outlook very much.

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Posted on 7 Comments

7 thoughts on “Preventative Medicine

  1. As much as it might drive us crazy, sometimes it’s a good thing that our kids force us to drop our plans and do something else, instead. Kids are driven by their moods, moods that can pop up out of nowhere and disappear as fast as they came up, so they teach us spontaneity. At the same time, it gives us the opportunity to teach them compromise and patience. Some of the best times I’ve had with my kids have come from this. OK, help mommy put away the dishes, then we’ll dig out some t-shirts and tie-dyes and fabric paints. We can’t go out today because we’re waiting for a repair person, so let’s gather some things from the yard and make fairy houses. Or, as you did, the work will still be here tomorrow, let’s go on an adventure!

    These times are precious. You can show them things, teach them things, help them evolve interests by taking advantage of the need to get them to stop fighting and whining, already!! It won’t be long before they’re engaging themselves, deciding they want to do things alone or with their friends, often instead of with you. While they’re making these demands on your time and energy when you have OTHER THINGS TO DO, you’ll be frustrated, you’ll be pressed for time, but you’ll be creating memories and emotional bonds, AND remembering what made you happy when you were a child (nothing to sneeze at, there!) It’s bittersweet to see them striking out on their own, because it’s these very outings that have taught them to try new things and test their independence, and while this was exactly what you wanted them to do, you sometimes miss them wanting you to fill their time for them.

    I’m so glad to see that you took them out. It would have been easier to force them to stop fighting and give them some sort of passive entertainment so you could get back to work, but in the grand scheme of things, the work can wait, and it won’t turn into something else while you’re out with the boys. Kudos to you.

    Sorry if I’m sounding a bit preachy – I’m a tad bit melancholy from just having dropped Audrey off at Band Camp and Carolyn off at her computer class. Now I have plenty of time to work on drywall and painting without being interrupted by pesky kids. *sniff!*

    1. Aw, I hope your pesky kids are back underfoot soon 😉

      We enjoyed our outing yesterday, and I’m glad we went. The irony of it is that I just took two weeks off in order to do things like that, but never really got around to it. The first day back at work, and I spend it at the zoo. Funny!

  2. What Lisa….No SKIRT???? 🙂
    Glad you had fun and wish my bickering brothers were still that age!

    1. LOL! The boys aren’t particularly entertained by the hum of the sewing machine, unfortunately 😉

  3. looks like you had a great day – glad you were able to turn around what might have been a frustrating day into a fun outing!

  4. It’s called the Bergen County Zoo now?

    I have fond, fond memories of visiting Van Saun Park Zoo while growing up. Boy, times have changed.

    1. Well, the park is still Van Saun, but yeah, they changed the name of the zoo a few years ago. I remember going there when I was a kid and the zoo was still a handful of animals and a train ride. It has easily tripled in size since then.

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