Saturday, January 24, 2015

When Doing Nothing Does Something

Busy Mom - Life with a Parasite
A Reasonable Facsimile
It was a Professional Development Day at M's school yesterday. Usually this fills me with a sense of "OMFG, what are we going to do all day?" but yesterday, I tried something a little different. Wait, I should back up a bit. Our daily routine is predictably a pretty busy one, and it goes something like this:
  • Get up, pack M's lunch for school, help get her dressed, feed and dress Z, and then finally feed and dress myself. 
  • Morning programs for Mommy & Z.
  • Home for lunch, put Z down for nap and do some work until he wakes up. 
  • Go pick up M at school, go to her after school programs a couple of times a week.
  • Make dinner, put the kids to bed, do some more work and head to bed. 
  • Wash, rinse, repeat. 
Somewhere in there the laundry and dishes get done. And sometimes I even have an evening off to hang out with The Husband. Imagine that!

Yesterday, however, was a little different. With both kids underfoot and The Husband at work all day, the idea of getting stuff done around here was laughable. So I didn't bother trying. I cleared the decks and took the kids to an indoor play centre in the morning to let them run around and blow off steam. When we got back, Z went for a nap and M and I did each other's nails and then curled up on the couch and watched The Book of Life together. 

Taking that time to do nothing and reconnect reminded me why I had these kids. There's actually a name for what happens when you take a day to reconnect, it's called filling the attachment tank. Yes, I spend a lot of time with the kids, but a lot of it spent in the midst of doing something else. Once in a while, the damn laundry can wait. Let's face facts, it's not going anywhere. Ever. But someday these kids won't have any interest in lengthy cuddles on the couch.

Have you tried taking a break from all the "stuff" that needs to get done, just to spend some time doing nothing with your little people? Tell me how it went! 

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