As noted previously, I am on a quest to improve our family weekends. Everyone else seems mostly on board with this idea as well, which helps. There was a little bit (okay maybe a moderate bit) of griping about less video game time but in the end no one seemed terribly sad about how we spend the time.
The magic ingredient was planning. Obviously. Not even like, elaborate-far-in-advance planning, more just casual “let’s talk through what we should do and pick from a few easy options”-style planning. We even changed our plans when we realized Sunday did not have adequate hours for the big kids to finish homework, A/J to work on painting her room (her idea; DIY home improvement project!), a trip to Miami Beach to see grandparents, and the science museum.
(We axed the science museum though will go eventually.)
What did fit in our weekend hours?
Friday night: Ummm admittedly not very much! I picked up C from XC. G had piano. The kids and I had dinner and then we settled in to watch The Life List.
Saturday: I went to 7 AM Pilates / Josh went to the gym, A had gymnastics, C had soccer. G and I went for a walk to admire Halloween decor. I did some admin stuff including clearing off papers on my desk which had gotten out of hand. I also added pix to my 5 year journal! After a low key lunch at home, kids and I got flu shots. Later, we headed out for dinner as a family to Sakura Ramen, which G chose. It was a really nice day! Somewhere in there I also read a chunk of The Academy.
Sunday: I did an upper body AM workout while Josh did his long run, and then browsed the Sunday NYT (which we currently get on paper, it feels very luxurious). Then I went to TJs with G to get groceries for dinner (white chicken chili; on a quest to make all of these chilis after seeing the link in MMD) + the rest of the week (PrepDish). Big kids did some homework. At ~12:30 we all drove down to Miami Beach to see Josh’s parents (+ lunch + swim). After we got back around 4, A + J worked painting her room — an A-initiated project! G & C got some video game time. The painters got through one wall (one coat). I spent the late afternoon cooking and listening to podcasts– I made white chicken chili for dinner + pumpkin muffins for Monday AM (TJs mix – I added pecans to half). We finished The Life List.
(Oh, and the podcast that commenter Lana recommended did make me feel a little better about all the apocalyptic AI predictions! I have no idea who is right but I guess I am happy there is no consensus.)
Was it earth shattering? No. But it was really nice! AND, I did not feel icky about the amount of time anyone spent glued to a screen. One kid probably did wish there was more video game time in there but I don’t think anyone truly felt deprived since we were doing other things.
8 Comments
That sounds like a great weekend with lots of fun things packed in. I am glad there wasn’t too much grumbling! Getting buy in and activity suggestions from the kids definitely helps!
We had white chicken chili last night! Ours was a meal that was dropped off by friends shortly after my accident so all I had to do was put it in the crockpot and shred the chicken breasts before eating. It was so good!
This sounds like a nice weekend! I think you’re just getting adjusted to the “new” weekend style (no long run and no soccer games). Anyway it sounds like you’re figuring it out, and now you still have the science museum for next time.
I’m thinking of getting a sticker printer for my daughter for Christmas- I’m going to text you soon to see what kind you have.
It’s this one: https://amzn.to/43wK7rk – I’m happy with it but Amazon does say price is high now so could maybe wait for Black Friday sales!
Here is an article on AI you might like:
https://bigthink.com/thinking/bad-predicting-future-ai-hype-fear/#
Interesting article, thanks for sharing. Definitely taking all the AI predictions with a giant grain of salt.
Glad you enjoyed!
yes that was a good read! thank you!!!
What a nice weekend, well done planning with the family. Good strategy going forward. And that’s great there wasn’t too much complaining, I think sometimes kids know too that they don’t feel great when they have too much screens, and are relieved deep down to be doing other things. So good A is painting her room!