29 September 2008
Divided and conquered
I knew this would happen, and now it's happening. We have older kids who can do things. But we also have a toddler and a baby. So now, instead of all of us doing things together when Dad is home, he takes the big kids to do kid things and I stay with the little ones who can't do kid things. I'm on permanent baby duty and I don't get to see the big kids doing kid things. Dad and I spend less time together. It stinks. There's no other way. I hate it.
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8 comments:
I soooo feel your pain. Of course the "baby" is now four, so things are easing up a bit, and the oldest is 12, and he is a the cheapest babysitter around.
Great (or greatly deranged) minds think alike. I just threw one of these tantrums. And we've only got 3 at this point!
I do look forward to the days when the Big Kids are old enough to wrestle the babies and Dad and I can do something totally wild--like eat ice cream on the back porch.
In the meantime, I guess we're all getting what we deserve. Or something.
hmmm...My sister has 9 kids ranging in age from 10 yrs to 1 week old. I can only think of one activity that the dad has done with the older kids without mom and all the younger kids coming along :)(ever) My sister just packs up her diaper bag and takes a seat, either by the field, the roller coaster, the pool, or whatever and watches. Dad and the older ones help out too...they all love being together too much to leave anyone behind. I bet your husband misses you too :)
I guess I ought to chime in on this one too, as we have 8 kids from just turned 10 to almost 3 months. I second Melanie's sister's approach, however, I will admit that there are relatively few things I can think of that we do which I would consider "big kid" things to the exclusion of littles in the first place.
We don't do the roller coasters, the pool, sports, etc. Our biggest outings have been to the children's museum, the zoo, or the park, and believe me it's been a while for any of the above. We are supposed to go camping (for the first time since having children, the only time we went after being married was two months after our wedding) this weekend. It is our family reward after we all worked together to get the house cleaned up before we started school this year.
We are really big on the family life being very much about togetherness and cooperation, whether it's for meals-- including the prep and cleanup; our 10, 9, 7,and 6- year olds can make meals and clean up after, or grocery shopping, or trips-- we don't take "vacations," we visit family and friends:), or outings.
FYI for anyone thinking of homeschooling, there is a curriculum written with that taken into consideration. All learn together, each doing what is appropriate for his own level, and in case you haven't noticed, little ones pick up an amazing amount of knowledge just by being around older children. It's awesome!
Pam, what is the name of that curriculum?? That sounds awesome!
Also, I agree with you on the not taking outings that everyone cant enjoy, however, I think all kids can enjoy pretty much everything (except maybe a roller coaster :) When we go to fields to play sports, I bring a ball and let my baby hold and bang on it. Then I stand him up and move his foot to kick a ball into a goal, he laughs every time. I suppose once I have 8 certain things may be a little harder :)
Hang in there. This too shall pass.
And try to find some things for all age groups. ;)
When I said we don't "do" those things, I meant because we just haven't, so I can't really speak to them, not because our kids wouldn't enjoy them.
So far, we don't have anyone involved in sports, and we haven't attended games. We are too busy, and it is not as much of an interest to us. My husband is not a sports fan.
Melanie, the curriculum in question is KONOS. I'd be happy to tell you more about it through email if the CSPP could help us out. :)
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