When kids think you are spoiling their holiday

 

The holiday kicked off on a busy note. I am conducting a children’s character-building workshop this week. Preparing for the workshop, while keeping my children occupied at the same time was not easy. 

 

To ensure that whatever is necessary for the workshop was in place I had to set aside four hours every night when there was quietness and tranquility. However, this was made challenging by the fact that Asiphiwe had been infected with chicken pox and so she was restless at night and needed my constant attention. 

 

The worst part was her failure to accept that she could not go out of the house to play with her friends because she has a contagious disease. 

 

We quarantined her in the house for about five days and she raised hell. She kept screaming day in, day out, saying she wanted to go out to play. 

 

As a mother, I had to respond to her cries compassionately. So I had to adjust my busy schedule to create more time to be at home with the children.  

 

At the start of the holidays, I established a programme that we would follow as a family, but my children are resisting it. My sons think I am spoiling their holiday by giving them lots of housework. They want more time to go out and play. We haggled over the issue, but I was not about to adjust my holiday programme. 

 

I designed a rewards board with stars to award whoever accomplishes their tasks first and well. This means a lot of work for me too. I have to spend a lot of time supervising, monitoring and grading the tasks done. The tasks include ironing clothes and their father’s shirts, doing art projects, reading a book each week and answering questions, spelling exercise and cooking.  

 

So pray for us because our holiday is really busy.