An Unexpected Day

On Sunday afternoon Damian was heading out to the football, so I had the afternoon alone with the children. I didn’t have high hopes to be honest. The weather was awful so plans to walk to the park to burn off some energy went out the window when the rain started pouring down and I wasn’t really sure what we would do. I didn’t have any craft activities planned and I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by the amount of tidying up and sorting of stuff that needed doing in the house.

Daniel and Emma had been OK in the morning but a little testing at times. They were both tired and I knew Emma would nap at some stage but Daniel won’t anymore. I envisaged an afternoon of battles ahead of me. I’m not sure why I had such a negative feeling about the day. I suspect I was tired and fearing that it was all going to be a bit of a challenge.

However they defied all expectations and were brilliant. I had a lovely afternoon with them, just ‘being’.

I was able to clear the ironing pile whilst Emma had a good nap and Daniel had some quiet time watching Thomas the tank engine. Later in the afternoon Daniel was happy sticking his stickers onto sugar paper and creating all manner of collages and Emma was content to play with the various cars and diggers and bring them to Daniel and I to push around for her to chase.

I was able to have a good sort through and tidy of our dining room; managing to clear the two sideboards of all the various bits and pieces that seem to gather in the cupboards and drawers and finally sort through the mountain of paper and bits that get left on top of them. For once our dining room looked clean, tidy and clutter free.

It was a really unexpected end to the day. I had fully expected to be battling with them both, expecting to be counting down to dinner time then to bedtime, but instead the afternoon flew by and before I knew it they were telling me they were hungry and I realised the time!

It made me appreciate those rare moments of peacefulness that can exist and that, actually both Daniel and Emma can entertain themselves and are happy to play together at times. It reminded me of the importance of letting them lead their own activities and whilst we have a lot of unstructured play, sometimes that is exactly what they need. They were both tired after a busy week and being able to do what they wanted and engage in what they felt able to was the right thing for them (and me)

All in all, a really lovely, and rather unexpected, day. The complete opposite to what I had expected it would be. We all ended the day feeling relaxed and (well me at least!) stress free. The perfect Sunday afternoon.