Baseball and Batman: A Week Off Together

A Week off TogetherIt’s been over two years since I was teaching full time at a high school in Brooklyn. While it seems like much more than that in many ways, I still vividly recall the peaceful feeling during week long breaks. Seriously, ahhhhh.

While those days are long gone for me, week long breaks still happen for my children. And this past week was one such week. They are serious about the presidents in our town here in North Jersey.

One of the great things about the week off is the ease it brings the boys. There’s no pressure of homework, rushing off to school, or getting to bed at a particular hour.

My children, like most kids their age, are thrilled to have the week off from school. At this point, they need little dad entertainment time. Both are happy to waste a day away on their electronics – whether its Youtube, Sporcle (BR is constantly doing baseball quizzes), etc. That and some hangouts (they don’t call them playdates anymore – too mature for that. Duhhh!) and they are content.

And for the most part, I’m fine with them enjoying their vacation in this way too. But not completely.

Both Mrs. MMK and I want the boys to get outside. You know that place with the big yellow ball in the sky and the puffy white pillows in the sky? Sometimes, my children would be fine to forget about the outside for a few days.

Yet, this week was ridiculous. Not only were gloves and hats unnecessary, but even jackets were optional a couple of days. It’s February – right? Anyway, they needed to get outside which typically requires encouragement by Mrs. MMK or I. So, SJ spent some time on his bike and BR played baseball (the boy is seriously baseball crazy).

They enjoyed their week off. Great. Right? Yeah, pretty much.

You see, I wanted to spend more time with them. It’s not because they need me so much. Or because I spend so little with them regularly. It’s because I’m determined to spend as much time with them while they are young, in our house, and growing up.

How many times have you heard someone whose children are all grown up say they didn’t spend enough time with their kids when they were growing up? If you’re like me, the answer is too many to count.

These days, I simply can’t enjoy the ease with them. It’s not an ahhhhh week for me. I’m either working or looking for work – All The Time. Anyone who works for him or herself or knows someone who does can surely empathize. Not asking for pity – just splaining.

Anyway, I couldn’t spend as much time with the boys this week as I would have liked to. Yes, I saw them plenty, but I was typically on my computer trying to get work done. I didn’t have time to bond, chat, or relax like I would have liked to.

However, I made sure to spend some quality time – outside of the house with each of the boys. For BR, that meant the batting cages followed by pizza. Yup , we were at the batting cages. He was swinging away, and I was giving him some instructions. Which he mostly ignored leading me to be frustrated. Yet, we had time together to hang out, and I was happy for it.

For SJ, it meant the Lego Batman movie followed by pizza (yes, had pizza for lunch twice this week – the sacrifices I make for my children). We talked about the movie, what we would rate it, our favorite scenes, and how we would make it even better, etc. and it was a good time.

Lego BatmanThese weeks off and our time together is precious. I’m determined to not let them slip away.

 

 

10 thoughts on “Baseball and Batman: A Week Off Together

    • Yeah, the weather last week was nuts – it was screaming out to be enjyoed.
      Agreed about Lego Batman – not as good as Lego movie but on its own, enjoyable.

  1. I still make a point to do that – and because I made spending time with Mr. T a priority as he was growing up, it is just part of his life now! Sometimes it means sneaking off to the movies on a Tuesday afternoon, and sometimes it’s a dinner out. It really depends on both of our schedules, but we both make an effort when we need, and it makes a difference in our lives, so I’m glad you were able to spend time with each of the boys on their break!

    • I remember this from your blog Kate, and I respect it. Based on the relationship you have with Mr. T., you clearly did many things right.

  2. Our kids are at a similar age in life, where they don’t need us as much and we know we just have a few more years with them home. I realized this weekend that my new debit card expires just a few months before Audrey graduates from high school! And I realized how very, very close that time really is.

    • I like the allusion to the debit card. I know you didn’t mean it this way – but they are expensive.
      I have the thought often.

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