Hope everyone had a happy holiday season. We are still lighting the menorah (2 nights left). Last night we read Herschel and the Hannukah Goblins. My absolute favorite Chanukah book. As I type, the rest of the family (3 pairs of adults and 9 children) are finishing up at the local pool in Bonita Springs, Florida. It has been like paradise here, 80’s and sunny. The sunsets over the Gulf of Mexico are amazing. Even so, my kiddos are pining away for white Christmas like we had in Maine.
Parenting is a truly personal path. Sure, there are some things we all agree on: please and thank you, be respectful to your elders, keep your hands and feet to yourself… but some things are not so black and white. How about donuts and sugar cereal for breakfast? Sandwich before oreos or straight to dessert? TV for hours on end? When can you watch a DVD on a long trip? Expensive electronics for children under the age of 10? Totally subjective and personal decisions that parents have to make.
When you get families together, those personal decisions become public and often conflict. How does one tread this emotionally charged path? Sorry, I don’t have the answer. My course of action is to stay in the background, talk to my boys quietly and personally about what our family rules are and hope that the guidance I have given them thus far will be enough. I also know that this is vacation and that we all let loose a little. No worries.
Happy New Year. I’m counting down to January 20th. How ’bout you?
Creative Chaos 