Day 3 of the fast and I'm starting to forget about soda and spend more time thinking about my life, and how I can improve it! Today, I wanted to focus on my relationship with my children, especially the older two who are my step-children.
Coming into the friendship with my husband, the children were already 2 and 4 years old, and by the time I was interacting with them often and acting as a parental figure, they were 4 and 6. I think that because they were so young, it allowed me to have a smoother transition into being a step-parent than, say, a person who has preteens or teenagers. They got attached to me pretty quickly and had no problem with me acting in that parental role.
The only issue was that most of my experience with children was from being a competitive gymnastics coach, so I was used to discipline, discipline, discipline. I had seen how effective discipline can be and it worked well in order to get my job done. The children I coached still liked me, but they knew that there was a line that they could not cross, as far as staying respectful and accomplishing the work.
With this background, I naturally slipped right into the disciplinary role with the kids. We have set schedules for everything and we stay on task at all times. The routine works and, as you have probably seen on shows like Super Nanny, they are almost a necessity to keep your house sane. Having said that, there has to also be a time for playing and having fun with the kids. You have to show your kids how much you enjoy spending time with them and how you genuinely like the people that they are becoming.
Because of the visitation schedule with their mother, this kind of time with the kids is in high demand in our house. We have only one or two weekends a month with the kids, so much of our time with them is spent during the week getting things done. Since both me and my husband work, the children are in an after-school program that lets out no earlier than 5:15, so we have from about 5:30 until their bedtime of 8:30 to get all homework corrected and completed, eat dinner, do chores, take showers, and do any extra-curricular activities like ballet and taekwondo. Whew! I'm tired just writing about it!
As you can imagine, much of those 3 hours is pushing the kids to get what they need to get done, done! There isn't any time for relaxation or playing games together. Lately, I've been feeling like I don't give the kids nearly enough smiles or crack enough jokes with them. I know this would be something they would truly enjoy, as both of them enjoy time with us and are pretty funny kids themselves!
So, I've decided that today's task is to teach the kids a game that I enjoyed playing as a kid. I have chosen the game Spoons. Not sure if you've ever played it, but it is a hysterical card game that is fast-paced and just plain fun. It will allow us to spend some time playing without any tasks or overbearing stresses. I am looking forward to game night tonight with my children!
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