Staying Home

I think I have written this post before.  And I probably did back here.

But sometimes I need to remind myself of what I know, but often forget.

See I have this limiting belief that good moms go places with their kids and take them on excursions. Good moms plan fun activities and give their children new experiences.  So when I can’t or don’t do this, I have some guilt.  I engage in some negative self-talk and  think that I am a bad mom.

These negative thoughts started to creep in over Christmas break.

We battled sickness the whole vacation, and we stayed home almost the entire 2 weeks.  We were never all well at the same time to do any fun family excursions.  We missed parties, recitals, skiing, movies, sledding and outings. One morning as the snow gently fell, guilt started to overcome me.  I started to feel bad that we didn’t get to go skiing or sledding in this beautiful new snow.

Just then I heard Elle yell from the basement “Crew, how do I use my light saber?”  She and Crew were playing Star Wars Wii together and Crew was teaching her the ropes.

Locke was riding around the house on his new Cars scooter still in his pajamas.

Croft was playing with her Squinkies.

I remembered the day before Elle was curled up in a chair for the entire day reading her new Christmas book, Michael Vey.

I remembered Croft’s excitement as she showed me the color pattern she had created with her Legos.

And Locke was so proud to show me the green castle he built with his new Magna Tiles.

The kids were content and happy. They weren’t angry that we weren’t out and about experiencing life and making new memories.  They weren’t bored.

They were happy to be home playing with their Christmas toys.   I mean, why get toys at Christmas if you are never home to play with them, right?

The sickness was passed around and we stayed at home for another week.  No one ever complained to me that they were bored or wanted to go somewhere.  (It helped that they didn’t check Facebook to see all the other families’ fun activities.) Instead, they continued to color, draw, build, read, wrestle, pretend and  play.  As a family, we watched movies, wrote thank you notes for Christmas presents and made snowflakes for the school in Connecticut.

We never went skiing or sledding on some grand hill, but they seemed to be just as happy with the snow in our front yard.

So my kids reminded me that staying at home is just fine.  I can be a good mom without ever getting in a car or paying an admission fee or packing a day bag.  Happiness and memories can be made in the basement, the kitchen, the bedroom and the yard just as easily as they are made on the slopes, or a hill, or a park or theater.