A-ha Moments

Welcome to my journal. This is one of those blogs that I put in here for my meandering thoughts about life in general.  Feel free to continue if you are interested.

The kids are growing up so fast.  I continually have moments where I think "I should document that." Here I am to do just that.

I have had a few important 'ah-ha' moments recently.  The first is that it is in fact possible to spend too much time with your children.  I have always gone out of my way to do crafts with the kids and to have momma time with them. I realized that while this is excellent, it is important to have a lot of unstructured time where they just play together.  This realization came when I sent Jackson next door to play with his friend Micah. I asked Debbie (Micah's mom) how things went and she told me Jack played for a few minutes, then all he wanted to do was follow her around and be with her.  I thought about it and realized that Evelyn is the same way. She is the oldest and seems to prefer adult interaction to kid interaction sometimes . I think this is more common in the oldest child, but I think parents have an effect too.  As I started paying attention I realized that all of the kids tend to search me out as a playmate, even if other kids are around.  I decided that I will still have Momma time and craft time, but there will also be a lot of time without me. I plan to have more momma time where they can be in charge of what we do.  About a month ago we set aside Tuesdays from 12-2 as 'playdate' time.  We have 2-3 friends over here and the kids get some time with people other than family. This has been fun, and we will keep it up.

The second realization came around the same time.  I have realized the importance that movies can have for kids. Our kids have almost no TV time because I would just rather they do other things. During quiet time Evelyn gets to watch a 1/2 hour show and then she can play downstairs. I decided a while ago that most of the time that show would be a scripture movie or scripture scouts.  We also watch regular movies once or twice a month for :Pizza Family Movie Night. This new realization was that television and movies are great for imaginative play! I realized that the kids' play often revolves around movies and shows they have seen, or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Logan introduced them to his favorite show as a kid. :) ). I also realized that if the kids' imaginative play is often centered around gospel things then they might have a tough time fitting in at school where the kids are not all LDS.  Magic School Bus and Huckle here we come!  Does anyone have any ideas for other good TV shows or movies that are popular and have some merit (read: are not stupid).  We have not had a TV for eight years and we LOVE it, but we are also pretty clueless about any good shows. Whenever I look I am amazed at the stupidity of the kids shows.