Monday, February 06, 2006

monday ramblings


Another week-end gone and I'm now faced with unpacking, laundry and general tidying up. I'm in no mood for that at all so am finding every excuse to proscratinate.

The Hilary Duff concert was pretty good actually. Better than last year. She's grown right before our eyes. She had more energy, an opening act (The Operator from Toronto, so-so), two back-up singers and 3 dancers. This was the last show of her tour. She was still shy sounding when talking to the crowd and is horrendously thin. Horrible trend these young stars are following. The place was packed with screaming young girls. My big girl thought they were all pretty silly. She's not one to do that. She was also so aware of the commercialism of it all. Like the hundreds of $5 a pop glow sticks that they sold and the overpriced paraphernalia they were selling. She somehow seemed so much more mature. We ran into a friend of ours who brought his 2 young girls. He looked like he was in shock and muttered something about being the only guy in the place. The look on his face made us laugh so hard.

Although the weather didn't look that great when we set off on our ski week-end, we ended up with 2 pretty good and mild days. On the way there, on a total last minute whim we splurged and stopped at the Chateau Montebello for lunch. The food there is so awesome and the kids loved to see the inside of a "chateau". The twins really got the hang of skiing alone and they were the cutest things taking turns following each other down the hill doing the "pizza" and the "french fries". Hubby videotaped them coming down and they watched themselves at night over and over. I think that actually helped them. Big sis decided to try snowboarding so we set her up with a lesson. She spent a lot of time on her butt though ;) Not an easy thing to learn but at least she's willing to try again. Loved seeing those pink cheeks on all 3 of them after spending the day outdoors and what an appetite, watch out!

We actually came home earlier to watch the Superbowl. We are definitely NOT football fans but hubby and I didn't want to miss the Stones at half-time. We both LOVE that band. I was surprised to see the kids actually watch most of the game with their dad who had to explain every play to them.

On the way home, the twins were joyfully recounting everything they did on their week-end and how they love going there. They have that enthusiasm that preschoolers have about so much. And then we have the 11 year old who doesn't have that enthusiasm any more. Somehow it gets lost with pre-teens. They can be so morose at times that it can drive me nuts. She can be so unappreciative. I mean here we went to a concert, fancy lunch, lessons and she tells us her week-end was "just OK". You ask her to do anything and you get this big sigh. I can loose my patience with her in a second. Hubby says to leave her, its just a phase. I'm just worried about spoiling her too much and her becoming blase with everything she has. I mean I grew up with SO much less than what she has. My parents didn't have the means like we have now. Is this generation of kids getting too much as compared to what we got? More toys, more outings, more lessons (gym, skating, etc...), more clothes. Are we actually hurting them by giving them so much more than we had? I know that hubby and I have already discussed that as soon as she can she's getting some kind of part-time job so she can comprehend the value and meaning of money and working for it. Ahhh, I'm so NOT ready for those teenage years. I think that's why I enjoy my preschoolers so much cuz I know that this magical phase will not last forever.

5 comments:

nancy said...

Welcome home. Sounds like a terrific weekend! I tend to agree with you that the kids nowadays have so much more than we did, but I tend to wonder if it was all available back then perhaps we'd have had our chance too? Who knows.

My DH and I were discussing something similar just the other night, that we want to offer as many opportunities to them as possible, but we don't wanna overload them and make it all seem like too much either boring or overwhelming. Good to learn new things, also good to have as much down time as possible with family too.

I think you are doing a wonderful thing offering her so much, and yet will be so difficult as you see her transition to the 'leave me alone' phase. Just follow your heart...you can't go wrong there.

xo

Silver Creek Mom said...

WOW sounds like an awesome weekend.

As for the older one...She will get excited about the things she does with her friends. And as soon as she is old enough give her chores to do in the house and pay her. It's what I did with Miranda, she gets $30.00 every two weeks to spend on herslef whihc includes buying her clothes. NOW It's not alot but it's for her to learn jsut how expensive things are. I do buy her winter coat and boots. Other wise I buy what I want to buy her. She is getting very trhifty with what she buys and how she wants to look. NO designer labs for her.

Grant you Miranda is usally pretty excitable about the things we do with me but NOT with Jack. She rolls her eyes at him and It ticks me off.He just wants to be part of her life and she seems to push him away. It's hard for him and I try to get her to open up to him but she doesn't seem to.

And as Nancy says I wonder sometimes if I am spoiling my kids. Espcially Nathan. WE'll see.

Great Post Twinmom

twinmomplusone said...

Love how you termed that nancy, the "leave me alone" phase, I think I'll refer it as that from now on. We love these kids so much that following our heart means we want to give them everything. That's whre the difficulty with restraint comes in.

I strongly believe in exposing them to as much as we can opportunity wise but also not overloading them. Expose them to different things, see where their interests and aptitudes lie and take it from there. I always shake my head when I see some kids with a different extracurricular structured activity every day of the week.

And Sharon, we started an allowance/chore schedule last year but it flopped. Maybe it wasn't the right time yet.

Thanks for your support

BeachMama said...

Glad you had a good weekend, I sure miss skiing and hope that J will take it up so we can go together :)

I hear you about wanting to give the opportunities to your kids. We try to do the same thing here, but also find that A does not understand the value of money. We think he is ready to start a part-time job this year so he will understand what it means to earn and save. Hopefully it will help :)

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