Tuesday, September 23, 2014

In the eye of the beholder

This past weekend was a Lucas weekend. On Saturday we took the train to see his cousins. We bowled. We played hard at the park. He had a great day. But there is always this impetus to squeeze as much as humanly possible into a Sunday, knowing that I'll have to bring him to his father's by 6 pm. Sundays feel a little like "Beat the Clock" because I want to make it as great as possible. This particular Sunday was slated for the Seafood Harvest Festival at a very nearby beach. Free boat rides! Free pony rides! Expensive mediocre seafood! And it was......okay. Luke was probably tired from the day before, I know I was. He had fun on the pony (very excited to ride the white pony that looked like Maximum from "Tangled"), loved the bounce house. But when we got back home, he asked, "Mommy, can we just spell words?" And wham. It hit me. The Lucas weekends should be about him. About what he'd like to do together. Not what I think we should be doing or that might be fulfilling. Now, the Seafood Harvest Festival was (mostly) free, so no harm, no foul. But I think I'll be reining it in on the weekends and making sure we're having fun because we want to, not to check a box, fill a quota or to keep up with the Joneses. (Who are these Joneses and why are they so fantastic?) The article below gives another perspective on this similar theme - not measuring up against anyone else but enjoying what I do with Lucas and giving him a voice in how we spend our time together. That's not to say I can't offer (and sometimes impose) an activity that I know he will truly enjoy, but not feeling like I need to make it the be-all and end-all "Meet Joe Black" kind of party weekend each time. Article: Facebook Makes Me Feel Like A Bad Mom