We all know that kids can be incredibly instructive…. especially when it comes to teaching us the art of slowing down, paying attention to the small details that make life worthwhile, and making the most of a summer vacation. So while we are only halfway-through our summer break, here are are the 5 lessons that my kids have already taught me this summer!
1. Be Carefree!
My daughter decided to build a “fairy house” to welcome the fairies and see if they would pay her a visit. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that perhaps she should have selected a different box from the recycling bin! But as my Momof6 Facebook friends pointed out… fairies are indeed “carefree” creatures- so this fairy house “theme” was quite fitting!
2. Be Spontaneous!
Sure, it was a 98+ degree day when I received the email from our local minor-league baseball team offering free tickets to an afternoon game- so I put the question to the kids… would they mind baking in the sun to watch one of their favorite teams play? Heck no Mom- we don’t mind! Bring it ON! We went and we had a blast!
3. Be Flexible!
On a recent overnight camping trip, we had planned to spend our second day tubing down the Delaware River. But when we learned that a tragic accident had occurred on the river the day before, we knew it was time to figure out “Play B”…. or as my husband likes to say, “When given lemons, make lemonade.” Remembering a billboard we had seen the day before for a local waterpark… we decided to head there instead. And even though the day started off rainy, and temperatures never reached above 70 degrees all day long- we decided to just go for it- and have fun. Our favorite water slide was the 8-lane racing slide where we could all line up as a family, each take a lane, and see who could reach the bottom of the slide first!
4. Be Creative!
This summer, Steve and the kids are tackling a project that we have long wanted to do… make a cool (permanent) fort in the backyard. They are only in the early stages of their fort-building right now- but at last they are on their way!
5. Be Happy!
My kids came up with the coolest idea for a birthday present for their Mom…. they wrote, staged, and then performed live their very own birthday play… called “Princess Mom”! While I don’t intend on sharing their video here (c’mon… it is personal to me!), I did take a quick screen-grab of one of the scenes, as it was performed the night of my birthday when we were camping!
Each week Nicole from Moments that Define Life and I present our Listable Life Link -Up! Link up to today’s topics which are: 5 Hardest Things About Being a Mom OR 5 Coolest Vacations Spots I’ve Been To OR link up a list post of your choice! (As I have done today!) Link up here or at Nicole’s blog and have your post displayed in both places! We’d love for you to join us! Next week’s topics are:
5 Hilarious Photos of Your Kids OR My 5 Favorite Desserts OR link up a list post of your choice!
So please link up if you wrote a blog post… or please take a moment to leave a comment and share…. have you learned any great lessons from your kids this summer?
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
oh my goodness, that water slide looks SO AWESOME. Glad you are having such an awesome summer! Don’t you just love the lessons that are kiddos teach us? They teach us just as much as we teach them
Stephanie @ Faith & Fitness: Living Healthy for Him recently posted..{Listable Life} The Hardest Thing about being a Parent
whoops, typo *our kiddos*…. I hate when that happens!
Stephanie @ Faith & Fitness: Living Healthy for Him recently posted..{Listable Life} The Hardest Thing about being a Parent
Twitter: sharonmomof6
July 25, 2012 at 4:42 pm
Thanks Stephanie! My biggest complaint is that this summer is going by waaaayyyyy too fast!
Twitter: BarbHoyer
July 26, 2012 at 3:07 pm
I love the fairy house! We went to a fairy festival at a local arboretum a few weeks ago and enjoyed it a lot.
Yes, my kids are reminding me to smell the roses this summer. Dh & I are having a number of discussions around this topic. We feel inundated with to do lists when we’d really like to take the kids places. I even made the enormous suggestion of getting rid of our flower beds which take a lot of work. I don’t mind the vegetable garden because we do enjoy the harvest.
This week, I took the kids over to a local college for a walk and surprised them with small ice cream cones. Not a lot of money, but definitely something they’ll remember.
Barb @ A Life in Balance recently posted..donating school supplies
Twitter: sharonmomof6
July 28, 2012 at 8:11 am
I too am struggling with ignoring the to-do lists… which of course is impossible to do with the ones that have to do with my “real job”. But I am trying to force myself to say “yes” when opportunities arise. This week we managed to load 8 bikes in our car and headed over to a local bike trail. It would have been so easy to say “no”…. but once we are out there pedaling on the trail, I was so glad that I didn’t! And today we were given free tickets to go watch two French soccer teams play at Red Bulls stadium in NJ… and again, we just said “yes”. Of course I have to ignore the huge mulch pile that is sitting next to the driveway that I ordered earlier this spring with the intentions of actually putting it around my flower beds….