plugged in

There’s this totally luddite part of me that wants to run away and live in the woods in an “off the grid” kind of hermit style (you know, like Thoreau or something). But then there are days like today when I can only properly function when everyone’s plugged in to something. You see, today I’m helping out my neighbour again with the fact that the daycare (where we both send our kids) is closed due to illness. This means I am looking after her two beautiful children (ages 4 and 5) for the whole day. They are fabulous kids. We spent the morning going for a walk in the forest and then making some arts and crafts projects with the stuff we found on our walk. Later, we played outside in the back yard and the kids ran around a bit. It was a busy time and gave me a glimpse into the life of my sister who has three kids who are each 18 months apart–she’s kind of my hero after today. Even with really great kids, it’s a lot to manage and meet the needs of all of them. Kids are demanding. I’m a teacher, I should know this, but I am also in a different role at home when one of the kids is my own and the other two are friends. Not to mention the fighting that goes on between the kids because they each want to follow their own will!

So now it’s nap time for my little one and the other two kids, although too old for a nap, are each in a different TV room in my house watching cartoons, while I’m enjoying the peace and getting my internet fix. It’s times like these that I thank my lucky stars for technology and the fact that it gives us all some down time when we need it most. Is that so terrible?