Not Fair!
I never got one.
Why did he get one and I didn’t?
Hey I never got to go first yet?
Your breakfast smells.
That’s’ my book.
Do these phrases sound familiar parents?
In our house these and more are yelled out daily and in varying degrees of anger, sadness and bitterness.
It’s just part of the war of words in the great battle of siblings and in our case, brothers.
Pokemon cards. Uh. Where do I begin. If you have little kids (boys in particular), I bet you find pokemon cards in your house like you find Christmas tree needles in July. They are everywhere and I swear they spawn. It is no wonder we can’t catch them all, we can’t even keep the cards in one single place.
Just like a house of cards, when dealing with pokemon cards, they can make other parts of your daily lives come crashing down in not careful.
Those little cards will brainwash and distract your kids from doing the simplest of things. They also will take their powers of annoyance outside of your house and infiltrate school, after school, friends houses and anywhere they sneak them in like contraband.
It’s funny how the outside world has a good sense of what is going on in your house. For the past few months our two boys (3 and 6) have really stepped into their sibling rivalry pants to the point that EVERYTHING is a battle for supremacy.
The list goes on. The outcome usually leaves one kid on the floor in some level of tantrum. WTF guys, why are you fighting over the most trivial things. Why not wait a few years and fight over girls, or sports awards or who can eat the most hot dogs. Jeesh.
So it was very timely for the Netflix gang to pose the question about how our kids get a long when it comes to what they watch and how they fight or come together for true enjoyment. Makes me wonder if there is a camera somewhere.
It’s amazing when you can see a real change in your child. When they conquer something by bursting right through a wall that was frustrating them. That’s what our son Harry has done in the last few months with his reading and writing.
I am also happy to share with you that one of the contributing factors was Harry’s time spent at Kumon, an after school math and reading program. For those following the journey, you know that we were approached by Kumon to try out their service for six months in exchange for an honest review on the blog.
As I mentioned before, it was perfect timing because in October of last year, Harry was struggling and getting more and more frustrated by the day. He was falling behind in class and stressing himself out over it. Young kids should not be stressing about such things.
Before even starting Kumon, we met with Harry’s Grade One teacher and worked out a plan for him to get extra help at school and what we could do at home. TLC for reading and writing was coming from all fronts. That’s why it was perfect that Kumon came calling when it did.
Every year I secretly look forward to a list that Sarah over at Solo Mom Takes Flight does. Basically she plans out my summer for me when it comes to entertaining the kids. Well it dropped finally and I love it. But after reading it, I had a lot of my own suggestions that did not make her list, so, I figured, let’s go for 100.
Don’t get me wrong, so many of Sarah’s ideas are great and if you follow her on Instagram, you know she loves visiting every part of Toronto. I can only strive to do the same.
Every thing she suggested made me think of a few more. I started remembering when I had the kids all summer a few years ago and all the places we went. It’s exciting.
Toronto is such a great city, especially in the summer. You never have to leave. You can find something fun to do every day and in all price ranges.
So, thanks for the inspiration Sarah. Please visit her blog and read about where in the world she is with her kids.
I believe there is a book called Don’t Stress The Small Stuff right? I believe I even read it back in the day. It’s true, worrying about every little thing can be paralyzing. But what if let the little things that you are not stressing build up into a dirty bomb of annoyance and anger? Yes, I believe I am feeling it these days and I am simply chalking it up to the culmination of irritation. Tick, tick.
We all have several things that bother us every day. That’s not news. For those of us who are parents, I have to say, those several things multiply faster than the cost of buying Diaper Genie refills. Why? Because you are taking on the worry and problems that your little kiddies bring to the table. Oh and spoiler alert, it does not seem to bother them, so that weight gets even heavier on your already tired shoulders.
Do you ever look into the mirror and not like what is looking back at you? I think whether we like to admit it or not, it’s true sometimes. But do you ignore it, or try and figure out what is bothering you? It’s always much deeper than the actual face you see.
Lately, the metaphorical mirror has been either my phone or tablet and I have been taking stock on how I use each. Why I use each as much as I do and who it is affecting around me.
It was only seven years ago that I did not even have a device of any kind. Yes, I was a very late adopter to the smartphone world and I only got my first BlackBerry because Katie was pregnant.
Now, I seem to have a device in my hand or around me most of the day and God damn I just can’t leave them alone.
Dad, we never got to play with LEGO today.
We hear that a lot in our house, usually when there is only a few minutes until bedtime.
There never seems to be enough time in day to do everything you want, even when you are a kid. But, then it was March break and things got less busy and there was plenty of time for LEGO.
Also, with brilliant timing, Netflix sent us a box of goodies to help make March break even more fun. Oh, guess what, there was LEGO inside the magic box. Perfect.
Our boys are three and six, and while I think LEGO has gotten a little complicated for little hands, they love it nonetheless.
