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Mom Camp

We have almost survived one week of summer vacation.

The great problem of summer vacation is the draw of various devices/computers/videos/TV/etc.  Given the chance I think my kids would spend 100% of their time playing video games.  So this summer we have a rule that there are no screens between 9 and 4.  The ban includes playing games, watching videos, and reading random websites. The ban does not include writing or researching, so I am legal right now. 

Along with this is a rule that you need to practice, do one chore, and do 3 other useful things each day.  "Useful things" are very broadly defined and include playing games with your sibling, cooking (one sweet per week), making a craft,  bike riding, going to the pool, reading...  They do not include bothering your mom, pestering your siblings, or complaining.  If there is too much non-useful stuff going on, I will then assign useful tasks like dusting or cleaning bathrooms.

We will see how this goes.  I also am tied to this schedule, so writing a blog post counts as one of my three useful things.  When I was a kid I spent too much time watching television, cooking foods that were bad for me, sleeping until noon---my time could have been used better.  On the other hand, I also read (a lot) and biked to the park, pool and library a few times per week.  It seems good to have a plan for relaxing rather than letting the summer slip away----although I confess I am a bit conflicted.  Maybe when the kids have their own kids they will let me know if it was a success or failure.


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