Before the kids left for camp, I commented on Facebook that I was not one of those parents that was eager to get rid of both my kids like a lot of my friends seem to be. That seemed to be an issue; one friend told me she couldn’t like or comment on the picture of my baby going to camp for the first time because of it! However, it wasn’t to say such parents don’t love their kids, they just look forward to the alone time in a way I wasn’t. If that offended anyone, my apologies. I certainly didn’t mean to! I know some couples feel like having loads of alone time is important to their relationship. I’ve never felt that way. We are alone every day after the kids go to bed, and they are also old enough they spend a lot of time in the rooms and doing their own things. We have a strong and loving marriage and do not require getting away from the kids often to keep it that way. They add fun to my life and I like them around…they go to camp for them not me. That’s all I meant!
Now that the two weeks is over, I’d like to reflect on the experience a bit:
Having both kids away has not been the “good times” that that a lot of people seem to have. We have not traveled, not gone on nonstop dates nights, not spent two weeks partying with our friends. That’s not to say we haven’t gone out for dinner or gotten together with friends (we have!), but it hasn’t been nonstop fun for two weeks! We were both working afterall, choosing to save our vacation time to spend with the kids at the end of the summer.
As for travel, we went away alone in November, and certainly did not want (define: could not afford) to do so again this summer, since we’d also like to take a (still unplanned) trip with the kids late August. If we had planned better we would’ve probably wait until the summer so we didn’t have to get someone else to care for the kids, but we went away to celebrate our 15th anniversary!
Anyway, I have missed my kids greatly, however it certainly has been nice to get a little bit of a break from parenting.
-We’ve caught up on a lot of Netflix (House of Cards!), which is not only about tv but how we connect-snuggling, talking about the show, etc. Since my surgery in February I’ve had little energy to stay up long enough for this after doing all I need to with and for the kids every night.
-I’ve barely made dinner (we’ve only gone out for dinner a few times, but usually when Adam gets home we just make something easy like sandwiches or whatever, instead of me preparing a family dinner)
-We’ve done a lot of decluttering and cleaning and the house is neat and tidy in a way it has not been in years. I’m hoping we can keep this up! (Also, less laundry!!!!)
-Bar none, the best part has just not been having to run around. Being able to stop and run errands on my way home from work without worrying about getting somewhere at 6 PM, freely book appointments without worrying about how they would impact the kids schedules, going to the gym or whatever whenever I want!
So, it has definitely been a nice little break.
Now, Charlotte is home (and not happy, definitely doing a month next year!) and I’m looking forward to our time alone with her. I’ve missed her little face, and we always enjoy when she is home without Zoë… Just because it’s nice to not have fighting, and to do things with Charlotte we would not necessarily do with both due to the age difference!
So it’s been good, for sure. I’m looking forward to a little parenting break next summer should they both return to camp. But it wasn’t a game changer! I’m only happy they both enjoy it, if they chose to not go, I’d be just as happy…and save some buck!!
