Adventures in Parenting

Spring break is over! Tomorrow we start school again. Sigh!

We’ve had such a great time doing all the little things we don’t normally make time to do – play games, do craft projects, went to Griffith Park Observatory, my daughter stayed overnight at a friend’s house, and we stayed up late and woke up late, of course.

Tomorrow it’s back to setting the alarm for 6:15am! There is a feeling of dread as we think about the next day.

Then I told my daughter, “Let’s not get depressed. Life is full of possibilities ahead of us. What are we looking forward to this week?”

“Give me something to look forward to,” she says.

Well, I am not going to promise a vacation in the Bahamas or a new game system just to give her motivation to start the week. But there are some simple ways to perk our spirits as we face a Monday.

So here are 5 simple ways to encourage your children, and you, when we need a little motivation to start the week:

1. Plan a favorite dessert for the week. “We’ll make fudge brownies on Monday night, and get French vanilla ice cream to go with it!” Yummy! Food is always a good motivator.

2. Make a schedule of what you will be doing this week. Include a couple of special outings to the store together, or to the park for an hour. As you see your week in print, you will see how full your life can be.

3. Start a new project. We are going to re-decorate a part of my daughter’s room. This week we will start taking out the old light fixture and clean up the closet. Even though it is a chore and it’ll probably take us a few weeks, the idea of a new look to her room is exciting. It give us a goal to work towards. You can start a new scrapbook (another unfinished one in my case!), start to plan your summer vacation, or try a new sewing project.

4. Plan an outing with friends. During Spring break, my daughter went with her friends out to lunch. That’s quite a grown-up thing to do for my 12-year-old. So I said she should plan another outing with her friends. She suggested a picnic. What a great idea! And it’ll take some planning that builds the excitement.

5. This last one may not excite everyone, but it definitely motivates me – get a few books to read from the library. I love to relax with a just-for-fun book. I am never lonely when I have a book with me. Our whole family likes to read, so having a new book to read gives us something to enjoy for the week. Give yourself license to enjoy a hobby of yours this week.

What other ideas do you have?

Photo by monirul.pathan