Tracey Thomas is the Chief Elf at
Santa's Elves of Indy. She is a frequent guest blogger for Kids Creative Chaos. This week, she shares her insights on the Mommy Share. Do you take your kids out for special alone time with Mommy or Daddy? Here are some ideas for mommy-dates with your children.
Mom and Me Day
We have a large family, which means busy schedules and lots
of group interaction. Don’t get me wrong, I love our big family, but sometimes
the craziness that is our lives leaves little room for individual time with the
kids. With my oldest son, “mommy and me” time wasn’t scarce at
all, because he had no competition, but after baby #2 came along, it started
becoming evident that I would need to build in time to spend one-on-one with
him. It is now 12 years later and, not only have I acquired 4 children of my
own, but also 2 step-children and I still try to build in that individual time
with the kids.
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| A trip to the orchard is a special treat that doubles as edutainment. |
In a perfect world, I would have an endless bank account to
pull from that would allow me to take each child on an exotic weekend
excursion, but here in the real world, this isn’t exactly the case. Ok, so it
isn’t the case AT ALL. So to preserve the budget and to help keep our time
special, each month a different child gets to have their day. Sometimes, it’s
something as simple as driving to the nearby frozen yogurt shop and sometimes,
when the funds allow, we will plan something a little more expensive, like
going to the movies, or out to dinner, etc.
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| What kid doesn't love the movies, even better when you only have to share popcorn with Mommy. |
For my son’s 12th birthday, he opted to combine
his birthday present with his “Mom & Me” day and was able to have an
afternoon downtown with his friends. To date, this was actually one of my
favorite “Mom & Me” days with him because, even though I had to share it
with four other 12 year old boys, the extra-sweet bonus was when he still
wanted to sit by good ole Mom during the basketball game at the end of the
night.
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| Too cool for Mom... not this boy! |
As our kids get older, make new friends, and gain new
freedoms, they will have less time for Mom. Until that time, and as far into it
as I can get, I will always try to maintain the one-on-one visits with the
kids. It’s our time to catch up, hang out, and stay connected. And I hope that
“Mom & Me Day” will become as important to them as it is to me.
Check out her other posts in the boxes below and on the sidebar. She is the author of "Slurpin' for Worms".
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