The Single Mom Chronicles

School’s out.

Bedtimes shift because it’s “too light out” to be in bed at the regular scheduled times.

Daycamp buses require earlier wake up times than what we’re used to.

Lots and lots of activities throughout the day.

And three weeks into the summer, three weeks of play dates, a weekend ball hockey tournament out of town, fun day camps, and non stop stories of all their adventures, both my boys got sick. Stuffy nose, sore throat, headache, yucky body achy sick.

Who gets a cold in the summer!?!?!?

My one and only thought was to blame exhaustion. They’re not getting enough sleep. They’re not drinking enough water, and they’re not getting enough un-structured time. So I booked us a highly anticipated day of nothing.

The only rule was that we were staying home and each one of us could do whatever we wanted throughout the day as long as no one got hurt. There were no clocks and there was no structure. Horror of horrors!! I was very afraid of the potential train wreck of a day, however I was pleasantly surprised when it was over.

We woke up in the morning when our eyes wanted to open. And yes, I did sneak in a mid-day nap because my eyes really needed to close at 2:47 pm.

We ate when our tummies were growling. Each boy made their own breakfast (granola bar for one and cereal for the other), and ate snacks of their own choice (fruit and yogurt). 

We played with whatever we wanted (inside and outside the house), because the x-box was limited to 1 hour for the entire day.

We had three way interactive conversations as opposed to activity descriptions.

We read books – actual books with pages, and not online feeds or status updates.

We even watched the Wizard of Oz and for the first time ever, my boys actually HEARD the words of the munchkin songs and found them most comical.

They both chose activities for solo play and once they got over that, they worked together to play a round of Clue or kick the soccer ball around in the back yard. There was no difficulty in who was going to help me retrieve the dog in the back yard, and when I suggested we set up pizza stations to make our dinner, we immediately became master chefs! They heartily participated, partly because of hunger but partly because of the sense of autonomy they got as they were responsible for their own contribution. So while one grated cheese and the other cut up toppings, I put together the dough and sauce and the pizza was made in record time! And to top it all off – their stations were tidied up as we waited for the pizza to cook, without having a screaming match as to who dirtied what more. We picked weeds in the back yard and became imaginary landscapers. We went for a walk in our neighbourhood and turned into adventurers.

Eventually, what I usually would call bedtime, rolled around. When my youngest son advised me that he was going to take a shower and go to bed, I nearly fell off my chair. The other one agreed and they made it a race as to who could get to bed first. And when they both woke up this morning, before the alarm clock AND well rested, I knew my mission was accomplished.

Days of nothing aren’t conducive to real life on a daily basis because the reality is that we do have schedules we have to adhere to, and tasks we’re responsible for. I do have to admit though, that it was wonderful to re-boot; to be fully engaged with my kids for the entire day.  And it was even nicer to notice how pleasant the day unfolded without the constant nagging and queuing that we, as parents feel we have to do with our kids. It was extremely difficult not to yell when that soda dropped to the floor, however it was SO rewarding when he cleaned it up without being prompted.

There IS hope that we’re still on the path towards fine gentlemen instead of wild animals.