Down Days
Creating space to play and be together with your Katy family
I got a phone call from a friend of mine the other day. “Angela! You will never believe how much fun we just had!â€Â She and her 4 year old son were running an errand at Katy Mills Mall when they discovered a sidewalk full of caterpillars. She happened to have a container in the car, so the two of them spent the next 30 minutes collecting caterpillars to take home and nurture together. It was a moment of unplanned fun, and it reminded both my friend and I that so much of our time has become scheduled.
I stay home with my two girls, but we have activities planned most days. With pre-school, The Little Gym, ballet and playgroup, we are very rarely home and almost always have a schedule and a plan wherever we go.
My girlfriend’s caterpillar experience was a good reminder that some of our best moments come in the unplanned space between activities.Â
If I am honest, I’ll admit my girls are probably tired from all of our activities. Sure, I want them to be enriched. And yes, if we stay home for too long without a plan, we all start to go crazy. But I also think we can find a better balance than we have now.
For the next several weeks, my plan is to carve out one day a week that is just for us to be together. No agenda, no schedule. (And no housework for Mommy. I plan to treat it like I would a playdate or other activity in that I don’t expect to accomplish anything around the house for that amount of time.)
I am excited to see how this goes. If it isn’t raining, I may take the girls to a park or for a nature walk. If it is raining, maybe we’ll go waste some time and coins at Katy Mills Mall. Or maybe we’ll stay home and bake or have a tea party.
What about you? Do you care to join me on this little experimental ‘day of rest’? Post a comment below!
