When you think of spontaneous, how many of you would associate a mom with being spontaneous?
Not many I suppose. After all, we moms are the queens of routines and timetables.
So it’s hardly surprising that after Sophie came along, I slowly lost my sense of spontaneity. And in it’s place was an obsession with routines which must be followed to a T. I cringe now recalling how I used to record down all her nap times, feedings times (including which boob she drank from), pee, poo and what have you. It also didn’t help that Alexis was particular about her naps and bed time and insisted that she should be put to bed early. So in her younger days, we avoided social gatherings especially for dinners and blamed it on the baby.
Now that Sophie’s older, we sensed that she longs to stay up a little longer just to spend more time with us. And while we really want to catch up on our rest plus a little housework after a day’s work, we know that by spending that bit of time with her will really affirm our love for her.
Last Monday, I decided to get spontaneous and suggested something crazy.
Me: Since it’s a Public Holiday tomorrow, shall we go somewhere? (This was already 8:30pm)
Alexis: Hmm, where to?
Me: To the airport! Just for fun. Anyway we can sleep in tomorrow…
Alexis: Then Sophie how?
Me: Just bring her pram and her milk then she can sleep when she wants to.
And we did it. No ifs, no buts. We just packed up and set off for the airport.
It may not sound like a big deal. But you should have seen the wide smile that waa on Sophie’s face, and the excitement when she went, “Hurray!” after we told her that we were going to the airport after dinner.
Needless to say, she had lots of fun running around the airport and treating it like the big playground.
As I sat down and saw Sophie having such a great time even though it’s way pass her bedtime, it reminded me the importance of being spontaneous once in a while and doing something outrageous. In Singapore, we are way too familiar with living within the confines of structured routines and rules. As parents, while we bemoan about how the rigid system is getting to our kids, shouldn’t we be finding ways to break away from it from time to time?
Try doing something unexpected with the family this week and be spontaneous. Maybe you can get them to suggest something crazy and they may just surprise you with their creativity. After all, the memories of life are in these crazy fun moments as a family.
Do link up on my Merry Mondays post and share how you like to get spontaneous with the family.
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Tagged: Changi Airport, fun, play, weekends
My spontaneity (if any :p) comes more from our outdoor excursions and homeschool themes which I sometimes decide on a whim and then groan through the preparation. LOL
So it could be anything from deciding to visit the Titanic Artifact exhibition to letting her catch prawns at the “live” seafood place at Farmart to going to farm visits at Kranji / Sunggei Buloh area ‘cos I am the kampong girl. And I have to write it here to make a commitment, I will try really hard to do a link for your Merry Mondays! 🙂
Alicia, sure sounds like you”re having lots of fun with your girl. Yes, do link up and share some tips on how your spontaneous activities with your daughter went. I would love to engage Sophie through play while learning too.
I love spontaneity! Now that Vera is older, I’m a bit more relaxed about her bedtime and sometimes we just wanna get everyone out of the house, even if it’s just a simple walk in the park, and having fun at the playground. May I add that this is also how we take time out as a couple too? By just declaring ‘let’s go somewhere!’ and we do! 🙂
I can so imagine you and Victor giving each other the eye and going, “Lets go!” and then hop away for your dates.
We love to go to the airport too! Such a wide space to run about with hardly a crowd…
Agree! You know, I was never the mum with routines and timetables. While I can’t say it’s totally a good thing, but that was how we handled Angel from Day 1 and now we are still making our own rules and living by them. =) So glad the spontaneity in you came back! =)
I love spontaneity too. I’ll go out with my nieces whenever permission was granted. Now that they are young adults, no opportunities anymore.
Hehe the queen of routines sound alot like me when K was below 3…I am super anal about him having his nap, every single day, at a specific time, even on weekends. So you can imagine, we had no life for sometime. As a family we have special days even since he turned 5, in other words, nap goes out of the window. And we sleep late, a little too often sometimes…but hey, we need to treasure this time with our kids and allow room for spontaneity, love this post!
We love Friday evenings, that’s when kids can sleep later and Sat classes start later.
Otherwise, we ask our kids whether they wish to cycle, jog or go playground/garden.
They are ever so obliging, as long as they do not need to coop up at home :p
Sometimes when kiddos get bored by going to usual places; we pay a a visit to our city airport. Also it’s good for me because I like duty free products. lol
[…] you say you want to be more spontaneous?”, Alexis asked, hinting at a blog entry that I wrote about a month […]