She's not enjoying her holiday. That's what came out of the mouth of my 6-year old after 5 weeks of:
- Christmas preparations and Christmas festivities
- Zoo
- Play dates with friends
- 1 movie outing with the whole family
- 1 movie outing with "justMum"
- a 3-day trip to an island full of lovely swimming beaches
- 15 trips to the school pool
- movie nights at home
- art projects
- museum
- strawberry picking
- cooking lessons
- trips to the playground
- shopping for clothes
- fighting with her brother (sibling rivalry?)
- ....
- ....
Is she over-stimulated?
Are summer holidays too long?
Is she manipulating me to get her way?
(Please leave a comment to let me know what you think. Honestly!)
Perhaps she's inherently an unhappy child? Googling the topic (and failing to resolve the problem), I did manage to find this fascinating article about why today's children are unhappy. It provides superb insights into how parents who try too hard create even more problems for their children.
By the way, if you have the opposite problem, if you think you're doing too little, take heart knowing other mums also have bored children....
Posts
Lookup holiday on Wikipedia and you'll get: "This word has evolved in general usage to mean any extra special day of rest";
ReplyDeleteI don't see any "restful" activities in your list. How many items in the list were voluntarily picked by the child?
Peter
She's probably just tired from all of the fabulous things you have done with her! My daughters are very similar with their negotiations...they quickly forget the gifts they've been given and move on to the next thing that is "so overdue" to them! They're just kids. Katie
ReplyDeletethink they get very used to being busy fast. Activities are great, but so is the ability to amuse oneself.
ReplyDeleteI get the impression busy is regarded as best by a lot of parents. Get the children organized into after school activities. Never let them get bored. But in the process they ensure kids are unable to cope when not organized. They constantly need stimulating activities and aren't able to blob out, or just play on their own.
We have busy days, blob days and kids seem to appreciate both equally. They do get bored at times, but this makes them suggest things to do.
Lol, Peter, she definitely picked the "fighting with her brother" activity.
ReplyDeleteSherry, yes, blobbing is very important. I think I'll go try it out now, and if it's any good, I'll pass it on to the kids....
ReplyDeleteKate, do you think it's the question of "the more you get, the more you want"?
ReplyDelete