Sunday, July 17, 2011

Hope for Next Week

It has been insanely busy in the Common Household lately.  More accurately stated, the Common Household Husband and I have been insanely busy with all the usuals, plus extra work and travel.  Meanwhile, a certain member of the household has been known to sit for hours in front of the TV dumbing herself down watching “Sponge Bob Squarepants.” 

You reply to me that there are no children under the age of 12 in the Common Household, so why is this show even thought of, much less watched?  Call it summer regression.   Mom’s too busy working or getting ready for the next trip or driving to get another kid to/from their trip to stage an intervention.  Mom is also tired of the reaction to asking said 12-year-old to do anything useful:  growling, stomping, ignoring, walking away.

But we have hope.  Next week the 12-year-old will be TV-free at Girl Scout camp, riding horses, singing camp songs, swimming, and chasing away mosquitoes.  And I will NOT be at camp. 

That’s next week, though.  If the blogosphere has an helpful hints on how to get a 12-year-old to do something useful during the summer, please tell.

Summer Hope, in photos:


The tomato plant on July 3


The tomato plant on July 13




3 comments:

Angie said...

Tomato season is sadly about over here in southest Louisiana.

Maybe suggest the 12 year old forage for blackberries and bake a cobbler. I recall enjoying that activity when I was around twelve.

joanie said...

twelve year olds do not want to do something useful; they want to do something FUN. give her choices: do you want to do this or that? like plant a flower or write a story? you can start the story for her: once upon a time, there was a twelve year old girl who was bored out of her mind. yet she knew in a few short weeks, her summer would be over and she would be wishing that she had been doing all those wonderful things she dreamed about throughout the school year. what do you think some of those things may have been?

Cassi said...

Mmmm . . . I like the story idea :-)

I remember the summers of being bored, and being told by my mom that I could either go outside, or I could do housework. My mom is a stronger woman than I am --I'm not usually up to the battle of getting my almost-11-year-old to do anything useful.

I hope you have a peaceful week during Girl Scout camp!