A couple things to note about having three kids home during the summer.
1.) Smiley’s reliable* 3-hour nap is only helpful to me if I can also keep his siblings occupied during this blessed chunk of time.
2.) This is coincidentally the time of day that I regret our family rules about limited video game time.
Of the many options available to the kids, what I’m always looking for is an activity that will hold their interest for hours without my constant attention, supply-fetching, or fear of the house catching fire. I’ve got email to check and an empire to run, after all!
The only problem is that sometimes they take my ideas and get a little…how do you say? creative with them. Last week, my benign suggestion to go outside and put the hose on the playscape slide left our neighbors’ windows flooded and our arthritic dog hobbling for cover.
This week I suggested they make a movie with our video camera. Brilliant! They opted for an interview-style show.
Here’s an excerpt:
“Rascal, if you could have one superhero power, which would you choose: invisibility, x-ray vision or flying?
“I would have FOOD POWER! I would shoot food out of my hands. Like melted chocolate or egg yolk. Like this, yahhhh….!”
Surely they won’t expand on this idea, right? Right?
* * *
*knocking on wood twice for good measure
We are trapped inside with a still pretty sick Lily-bear. Which means I’m getting lots of complaints about boredom in the afternoons.
Here’s the movie to show them during Smiley’s naptime: The Adventures of Food Boy. http://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/adventures-food-boy . Turns out, it is a lot grosser to watch food shoot out of someone’s hands than it sounds. I washed my hands for days after reviewing this for CSM.
I stopped reading after 3 hour nap, I am now composing you a lovely hate letter. Tell me the truth do you drug him?
Remember, he is my third kid and I have hard-earned wisdom! I swear by the power of consistency, sound machines, and a touch of cold-heartedness.
It was sheer torture when Zoe took morning naps. I had to keep the girls entertained and quiet for an hour or more. A lot of times that meant sitting and reading, but come on. They don’t tolerate that for 90 minutes, I’m lucky if I get 20. It was unfortunately a lot of Sesame Street in those days.
The accompanying picture is genius.