Or what happens when a family of four kids and their Magical Mama come and visit for 10 days...!! :D
We have had friends from MN staying with us for the last 10 days and it has surely kept us pretty darned busy!! :D We have a wonderful time when they are here and we have all sorts of opportunities to practice our AP parenting...!! We have noticed though, that by the end of the visit we are through AP'ing and tend to resort to short answers, loud voices and no tools. The kids all get along pretty well for the most part, the siblings fight with each other, but never with their friends, which, whilst frustrating, is also very sweet! :D I like that they don't beat up or pick on their friends! : D
It's hard for us, as Mamas, to pay attention to the kiddoes when we just want to be left alone to chat and drink tea! We just want the children to "go play" and expect them to get along by themselves. It doesn't always work of course. We have learned that they still need Mama time, even when they have really cool friends to play with. It's important for us to try and make individual time with each child to make them feel special. It's surprising how quickly you can tell when children aren't getting enough attention. We may think that they shouldn't need us with all the kids to play with and all the neat things there are to do... but we would be wrong. They still want to know they are special, they are loved and they are not just faces in a crowd. Since our friends left my children have been especially cuddly and close to me. They both crawled in bed with me last night and slept by my side... we're making up for lost time a little bit! :D
