Filling Days Over Christmas Break

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For me I was so glad to have my children home and we could be a family not going this way and that. It wasn’t filling the time it was just a joy to have the time. We could sleep late, eat fun breakfasts at 10 am or later if we wanted. They could help with the meals and we could have hamburgers for breakfast if we wanted. IT WAS TIME OFF. We could enjoy being a family.
We did things for our neighbors; rake an elderly neighbor’s yard, or make cookies and deliver them, make up silly songs, read Christmas stories or stay in our PJ’s and have a movie marathon. We built a tent under the kitchen table and “camped out/in”.
Enjoy your children Mom. Make memories. Just love up on them and let them love up on you and let the world go by. It is Christmas. Celebrate the season. Blessings to you and your wonderful family.

This all sounds really lovely, but reallllly not how a 2 year old can spend a day (which OP has). I have a 2 yo and at a minimum we need a long playground outing or walk to get through a day. She's a ball of energy.

Exactly! My 2 year old would spend about 15 minutes in a tent under the kitchen table before moving on to the next activity. It's also hard to get him to sleep after he's watched more than 30 minutes of a movie.

We all thrive when we're on the move.

I’m not trying to make this a working mom vs stay at home debate but SAHMs have breakfast at home with kids every single day. My older kids love building forts and my 2 yo destroys their fort. My older kids love to build legos and my 2yo May either whine and cry wanting a little mini figure or take the dragon my kid just built. My older kids love chess and board games. My 2yo comes and steals the horses. This happens all day long so yeah it is hard to be home all day long and be lazy and just enjoy being home.

Don’t get me wrong. There are lovely moments where all 3 kids play well together but it sure as hell isnt from 6am when 2yo wakes up to bedtime. We do what you mentioned daily and also go on outings, go out to eat, have play dates, practice piano, go hiking, run errands, etc. everyday is a staycation day for me.

What does eating breakfast have to do with it? I'm genuinely confused. --A WOHM mom who also eats breakfast with her kids every single day before work and daycare.

I think her point is that if you stay at home all day, "eat fun breakfasts at 10 or later if we wanted" is less of a special occasion opportunity and more like every day life. You can only take so much "at home magic" day in and day out, I can imagine. (I'm a WOHM mom also but even I can't handle a whole day alone at home with my kids lol).

Ah, got it now! Thank you!

I don't think I've had breakfast at 10:00 since college...my lovely toddler is up by 6:15!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For me I was so glad to have my children home and we could be a family not going this way and that. It wasn’t filling the time it was just a joy to have the time. We could sleep late, eat fun breakfasts at 10 am or later if we wanted. They could help with the meals and we could have hamburgers for breakfast if we wanted. IT WAS TIME OFF. We could enjoy being a family.
We did things for our neighbors; rake an elderly neighbor’s yard, or make cookies and deliver them, make up silly songs, read Christmas stories or stay in our PJ’s and have a movie marathon. We built a tent under the kitchen table and “camped out/in”.
Enjoy your children Mom. Make memories. Just love up on them and let them love up on you and let the world go by. It is Christmas. Celebrate the season. Blessings to you and your wonderful family.

This all sounds really lovely, but reallllly not how a 2 year old can spend a day (which OP has). I have a 2 yo and at a minimum we need a long playground outing or walk to get through a day. She's a ball of energy.

Exactly! My 2 year old would spend about 15 minutes in a tent under the kitchen table before moving on to the next activity. It's also hard to get him to sleep after he's watched more than 30 minutes of a movie.

We all thrive when we're on the move.

I’m not trying to make this a working mom vs stay at home debate but SAHMs have breakfast at home with kids every single day. My older kids love building forts and my 2 yo destroys their fort. My older kids love to build legos and my 2yo May either whine and cry wanting a little mini figure or take the dragon my kid just built. My older kids love chess and board games. My 2yo comes and steals the horses. This happens all day long so yeah it is hard to be home all day long and be lazy and just enjoy being home.

Don’t get me wrong. There are lovely moments where all 3 kids play well together but it sure as hell isnt from 6am when 2yo wakes up to bedtime. We do what you mentioned daily and also go on outings, go out to eat, have play dates, practice piano, go hiking, run errands, etc. everyday is a staycation day for me.

What does eating breakfast have to do with it? I'm genuinely confused. --A WOHM mom who also eats breakfast with her kids every single day before work and daycare.

I think her point is that if you stay at home all day, "eat fun breakfasts at 10 or later if we wanted" is less of a special occasion opportunity and more like every day life. You can only take so much "at home magic" day in and day out, I can imagine. (I'm a WOHM mom also but even I can't handle a whole day alone at home with my kids lol).

Ah, got it now! Thank you!

I don't think I've had breakfast at 10:00 since college...my lovely toddler is up by 6:15!

You’ve never given your toddler dry Cheerios and a cup of milk and then the rest of the family eats a delicious breakfast an hour or two later? Really? No one in my family (except babies) are hungry when they first wake up. They outgrow that by 3. By ES I’m begging them to eat anything before they leave. When there is no school they eat breakfast around 9/9:30.

[Anonymous]

Just a reminder that it’s also good to let your kids be bored sometimes: https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/here-is-your-permission-to-let-kids-be-bored-on-the-holidays-20191212-p53j8d.html?utm_source=Nook&utm_campaign=bc8788fcb1-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_12_15_10_28&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8794b1f93c-bc8788fcb1-100196081&mc_cid=bc8788fcb1&mc_eid=0af1b9377d

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For me I was so glad to have my children home and we could be a family not going this way and that. It wasn’t filling the time it was just a joy to have the time. We could sleep late, eat fun breakfasts at 10 am or later if we wanted. They could help with the meals and we could have hamburgers for breakfast if we wanted. IT WAS TIME OFF. We could enjoy being a family.
We did things for our neighbors; rake an elderly neighbor’s yard, or make cookies and deliver them, make up silly songs, read Christmas stories or stay in our PJ’s and have a movie marathon. We built a tent under the kitchen table and “camped out/in”.
Enjoy your children Mom. Make memories. Just love up on them and let them love up on you and let the world go by. It is Christmas. Celebrate the season. Blessings to you and your wonderful family.

This all sounds really lovely, but reallllly not how a 2 year old can spend a day (which OP has). I have a 2 yo and at a minimum we need a long playground outing or walk to get through a day. She's a ball of energy.

Exactly! My 2 year old would spend about 15 minutes in a tent under the kitchen table before moving on to the next activity. It's also hard to get him to sleep after he's watched more than 30 minutes of a movie.

We all thrive when we're on the move.

I’m not trying to make this a working mom vs stay at home debate but SAHMs have breakfast at home with kids every single day. My older kids love building forts and my 2 yo destroys their fort. My older kids love to build legos and my 2yo May either whine and cry wanting a little mini figure or take the dragon my kid just built. My older kids love chess and board games. My 2yo comes and steals the horses. This happens all day long so yeah it is hard to be home all day long and be lazy and just enjoy being home.

Don’t get me wrong. There are lovely moments where all 3 kids play well together but it sure as hell isnt from 6am when 2yo wakes up to bedtime. We do what you mentioned daily and also go on outings, go out to eat, have play dates, practice piano, go hiking, run errands, etc. everyday is a staycation day for me.

What does eating breakfast have to do with it? I'm genuinely confused. --A WOHM mom who also eats breakfast with her kids every single day before work and daycare.

I think her point is that if you stay at home all day, "eat fun breakfasts at 10 or later if we wanted" is less of a special occasion opportunity and more like every day life. You can only take so much "at home magic" day in and day out, I can imagine. (I'm a WOHM mom also but even I can't handle a whole day alone at home with my kids lol).

Ah, got it now! Thank you!

I don't think I've had breakfast at 10:00 since college...my lovely toddler is up by 6:15!

You’ve never given your toddler dry Cheerios and a cup of milk and then the rest of the family eats a delicious breakfast an hour or two later? Really? No one in my family (except babies) are hungry when they first wake up. They outgrow that by 3. By ES I’m begging them to eat anything before they leave. When there is no school they eat breakfast around 9/9:30.

The point is that we're already up and active by 7:00 am. The idea of lazing around until 10:00 to cook some eggs sounds so tedious to me. We'd rather just go to a playground or run errands before coming home for lunch.