Play-less Summer

So far our summer has kept with the end of school craze. I've been telling myself "after the 4th" is when we'll be able to take a step back and catch our breath… it's after the forth, we haven't surfaced for air and if we don't… that's fine too, because I'm not complaining, we're having fun, busting life at the seams and catching the memories along the way.

It's also this time of year, I like to think, is what makes me family folk tale materiel a few decades from now.

I pride myself on my kids look at me with disapproval, my kid's friends refuse to believe I'm anything but joking, my kid's friend's parents returning blank looks, and my kid's friend's parent's friends knowing me as "the friend I was telling you about who...."{<--- those are the exact words that give me that hope for above mentioned folk tale statues}

For the last 3 years, as soon as that school bell signifies the end of the school year, it duly notifies the start of the end of video game season for the kids.

No Xbox, no iPhone, no iPad, no DS, minimal TV, no computer, no borrowing your grandmother's phone and quietly  hiding under a blanket with hope to be forgotten, no 'I just want to see how my Clan is doing and if the dragons survived the attack or if the elixir is down and then carry on with initiating a few attacks of my own and checking just 'one more' thing for the next 38 hours."

Now don't get me wrong, the kids still get their fair share of screen time, between friend's houses, babysitters, and if for a second you don't think I use it completely to my advantage when 'Mumma needs a break' then you've got another thing coming.

However, I'm not a fan of defeating my own purpose.
So even that, is few and far between.

For me, it falls under the same category as to why I don't allow my kids to play devices during their siblings sporting events, school concerts, or the whole length of long distance car rides.

I feel they need to learn how to properly behave in situation they aren't 100% satisfied in.

Now, I have a friend who sits completely on the opposite side of this approach. She feels here kids work hard throughout the school year, so their summers are theirs to be spent as they please. She packs any device necessary to get her daughter to stay quiet during her son's school play and she has extra sets of headphones in her vehicle 'just incase' the ones to their van's DVD player happen to be break along their way.

She literally laughs in my face, often makes fun of me, and calls me names along the line of "sucker". She's baffled by my tactic, as much as I am hers, regardless, I think she's a great Mumma and her kids are tolerable great too.

That works for her.
This works for me.

It's hard to have the kids not tuned in, at times I'm tempted by effortless, but I don't want raising my babies to be easy and I'm not convinced it will be done properly by Mind Craft.

I consistently find reinforce when their redirection is often found toward the side of creativity.

I marvel in the world that opens up in front of them and often follow their lead in imagination and vision.

Somehow, with the force of hand to play less... there is no handicap provided when it comes to my kid's summer being spent playing more.