We Don’t Have To Live The Pinterest Life

My memory sucks.  That’s nothing new.

I do remember now that the power finally went back on and that we are finally back to being able to stare at each other in the light again.  I probably don’t need to mention that it is still raining.  But anyway, back to the point I was trying to make…

I’m pretty sure that if scientists got it together and tried to test me for some kind of Alzheimer’s gene, it would be there glowing in the dark or whatever it does.  When I think of the future, I kind of envisage my life like the Notebook, but I doubt that Seth would come and read to me every day.  OK, I know he won’t, because he said he wouldn’t, he said he’d just hand me the blog link.  Nevertheless I cry buckets every time I see that movie because I truly picture myself in that position.

What I am getting at is that it is so bad that I often have to do a search on the blog to see if I have blogged about something before, because I just can’t remember, no matter how hard I try. (But don’t worry, I haven’t blogged about this before – I checked.)

When I really think about it I can pull some memories out of my childhood, but they are all very blurry and random.  Maybe your memory of your childhood is better?  I hope it is, but even if it’s not – if I had to ask you to remember moments that stood out for you when you were younger, what would you say?

For me it’s spending Sunday afternoons playing cards with my Mom and Gran, making tents in my room with my brother and riding my bike with friends after school.  Other random things stand out as well, like the time my brother got shocked in the back garden (probably close to life threatening but also totally hilarious) or that one time we went away with family friends to a place in Paarl.  What really sticks out about all these things, is that they were all human interactions.  Even the memory that I had of playing Tetris on the TV games is because I remember how I used to always beat my brother (the only game I could), and we would spend hours playing and trying to psych each other out.

People.

That’s what real memories are about.

This Saturday I went to a talk about how much time you should be letting your offspring be in front of an entertainment device.

I know right.  Why would I willingly put myself in a situation where I will inevitably feel guilty about the amount of time that I let my kids watch TV or play on the tablet/other entertainment media.  But I was pleasantly surprised.  Mush is an OT that has been in the business for an impressive amount of years.  And instead of telling us “YOU MUST NOT LET YOUR CHILDREN WATCH TV EVER”, she acknowledged both its usefulness and then its potential for abuse and the side effects thereof.

(It was very interesting.  I’m not going to go into it in details, but basically the just of it is that you should find the balance.  If they have one hour of entertainment it should be followed with one hour of free play.  Is it just me, or did you feel some of that annoying Mommy guilt wash away a bit there?!)

Anyway, what I really want to touch on here is that she spoke about doing things with your kids.  Not just being there while they do things near you, but actually doing things WITH them.  And encouraging them to do things that don’t involve sitting aimlessly in front of the TV.

At this point I kind of freak out.

I know that this is what I need to do.  But that involves so much time that I just don’t have.  Or I think I don’t have.

Added to that is that I constantly feel the pressure from all various avenues in life (Pinterest, although I adore you – I’m looking at you), that I don’t only have to spend time with my children, I have to be magically crafty and creative too – which in turn means WAAAAY more time spent on planning/making a craft to make with the kids than actual time spent with the kids making the craft…  If you know what I mean.  So it makes me feel like if it’s not Pinterest worthy it’s not worth doing.

But stuff that.

Mush reminded us to think back to the fun that we had as kids.  I know it’s not that long ago, but we weren’t allowed to sit in front of the TV all day, we did things to keep ourselves entertained.  Here are a few awesome and easy ideas to keep the kids busy without too much pre-planning.  I even remembered doing them!!

• Making tents out of blankets and chairs, then having tea and biscuits in it.
• Playing hide and seek.
• Playing catch.
• Hitting a balloon up in the air and trying not to let it touch the ground.
• Playing sports in the back garden.
• Put your kids in a box…

Those are just a few that I could think of offhand.  I will try and get a better list together to hopefully inspire us all on those days where the TV seems like the only option.

Do you have any easy go to tricks that you pull when you need to entertain your kids?