But We’re Tired!
It snowed. It snowed and it snowed and it snowed. Finally, it stopped. Then it snowed some more.
While this is a big issue for adults, and there are concerns about road conditions and work, my kids were overjoyed. School was cancelled before a single flake fell, and we’ve been given a 5-day vacation.
We have a wonderful neighbor who helps to plow out our driveway, and Bill and I started shoveling right away.
Our trampoline was covered in more than a foot of snow. So I sent out the boys with shovels to rediscover the bounce in the trampoline.
Half an hour later, Shane came inside. “Can we be done now?” he begged.
I looked outside. “It’s still covered in snow!” I exclaimed, seeing the sag of the center almost to the ground.
“But we’re tired and we want to go sledding!” Shane said.
“Ten more minutes of shoveling,” I told them. “Then you can get your sleds.”
Dylan whined and groaned and moaned from where he lay on his back in the snow. “We’ve been working SO HARD this WHOLE TIME!” he groaned. “It’s going to take another THREE HOURS to get all this snow off!”
“You have ten minutes,” I told him, and closed the door.
I set the timer.
Ten minutes later, I opened the door and yelled, “Time’s up! Go play!”
Dylan lay dramatically on his back, unable to move. Shane trudged across the yard to get to his sled, then threw himself down on the deck, not moving while he waited for his brother.
For the most part, I ignored them.
Ten minutes later, the boys were beaming as they plodded through the snow and rode their sleds down the front porch. Their smiles were brighter than the reflection of the snow. They played and rolled around and sledded down snow mounds. They had a ball.
If nothing else, I learned that I should not give in to their whining, nor should I make a big issue of yelling back at them while they are complaining. They got their work done, and then they played. And they felt good about themselves, having done a good job. And they had a blast playing, too.
Kinda like life.