Julie Stauffer

<<Sometimes its just a trip to the bank or the store. Not every outing is
entertaining>>

This is exactly where I was last year. I used to argue about "OK maybe you
can coddle an only child, but I have 5. No way to please them all so I will
just do it my way."

Of course, then I continued hanging around this list :)

Think Mary Poppins...A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. 2
examples from today: Had to take Adriane's goat to the vet. Zach (8)
didn't want to stop working on the "scope" he is making for his BB gun so he
stayed home. The little guys (4, 2, 2) had no option but to go. Nobody
complained, everybody pitched in but on the way home Marsie asked to go down
a certain hilly, curvy road. I actually just wanted to go home and this
road takes us a little out of our way......but the little kids loved it and
they had really been part of the Stauffer team this am....so down the hills
we went, complete with hands in air and squealing.

Hadn't been home half an hour and I realized I was out of detergent. It was
my fault (just went to the store a couple of days ago and didn't get any)
and the inconvenience was to me (laundry would be delayed). I talked to the
kids about going to the store and Adriane (10) said she wanted to stay home.
I said I had hoped to just send her in to the store so I didn't have to load
and unload all the little guys. She wrinkled her nose. Well, I thought we
were going to the store and the kids had to have lunch anyway. I suggested
that she might like to pick out something for lunch (like pizza). Suddenly
she was all game, in fact everybody did the pizza dance out to the car.

Neither of these examples really interfered with my day at all. Working as
a team really helped me out and nobody had a fit....win-win.

But you are correct, occassionally we all have to do stuff that sucks,
nothing is going to make it more palatable. But...I truly believe that a
little creativity and thoughtfulness cuts down drastically on the number of
those occassions.

What if you really did need your dh to go somewhere with you and what if he
really didn't want to go? Maybe it is a dinner with your boss. You really
need to be there and it would be so much nicer if hubby was along....and he
hates your boss. Finds him boring. You might be willing to do something
for dh to make it worth his while to help you out. (OK, what you would do
for dh is probably not what you would do for the kids LOL, but you get my
drift).

Why would we be nicer to dh than to the kids?

Julie

[email protected]

In a message dated 09/10/2001 5:51:24 PM !!!First Boot!!!, jnjstau@...
writes:


> Think Mary Poppins...A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. 2
>


Well, I don't think anyone is going to mistake me for Mary Poppins! :)

Nance



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