You may remember my post about dealing with my three kids going to camp. I must admit I was a little bummed that the my youngest headed off for her first day of camp without even shedding a tear or a simple glance back to me, waiting…for the tears.
The kids are on their last camp rotation now and we’ve all become pretty accustomed to the routine (note, becoming accustomed and being ready and organized are two COMPLETELY different things). So I was a little surprised that my 3-year old daughter hesitated when going to camp yesterday. Today was the same thing. She was fine until the camp was right in front of her and then she dug her heels into the ground and refused to go. She was upset and clearly didn’t want to go to camp.
A flash of the BAD PARENT: all I could think was the work I had to accomplish today and how having my daughter at home would complicate things. I knew from experience that 10 minutes of being home she would pine for being at camp with her friends and my day would be spent trying to find some sort of activity to placate her while I grabbed what few minutes were left of the day to get my projects done.
Then the GOOD PARENT. Obviously she was upset and work or not I couldn’t walk away, leaving her like that. I knew it would spin out of control into a full-on melt-down (years of experience with my 6-year old son have taught me that much), but I couldn’t take her home with me either.
So I tried to steer the conversation into areas not so much about going to camp but about playing in the playground: what’s your favourite piece of playground equipment to play on? The see-saw is great fun, great because you need to use it with a friend. Which friend do you like to see-saw with? Do you think the pool will be cold today? How far do you think you’ll walk into the water before you turn around and come back out? Up to your ankles? Your knees? Hey those kids are colouring pictures of unicorns. You’ve never coloured a unicorn. Imagine how cool that will look on our art wall at home.
As I’m ’selling’ going to camp to my daughter, it occurs to me that we’ve fallen into a bit of role reversal. I feel like the child trying to convince my mom that I really need to have a hamster and explaining how I’ll take care of it and that my teacher thinks having added responsibility makes you a better person (and who doesn’t want to be in teacher’s good books) and petting animals has proven to have a positive affect on your own mood and personality. Yadda yadda yadda.
Funny thing, it worked. Not selling the hamster idea to my mom; I never did convince her on that. But talking to my daughter about the fun things she will do if she stays with her friends seemed to work. Eventually my daughter gave in and decided she would go to camp. She actually seemed happy. Thankfully kids are an easier sell than mothers.
Have you ever had to sell your child on doing something? If it worked, please share because I have years of selling ahead and I have a feeling as my kids get older and wiser, the sell job will get harder.
When the kids find it they press stop and all the animals celebrate the find at the end. I thought this was a great use for the phone and the distinct sounds helped the kids to focus where they were looking and if they were getting close. I would recommend playing with the volume turned up on your iPhone for this to make sure the sound is heard.
Family starts claiming parts of the baby as their own: she has the family nose, he looks just like Uncle Boris when he sleeps, her laugh reminds me of Grandpa Pete.
Everything Mom had a chance to 
