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Cultivating a Joyful Home Atmosphere
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I have a tricky problem I am trying to solve.
I am seeing a serious lack of just joyful getting along and play in our household this summer. This is our first year in a neighborhood (vs. in the country) so the kids are inside more than ever before, so I have been wondering if they just need more fresh air and excercise? It seems like they are all on each others’ nerves and I can’t seem to get the ‘smooth and easy days’ vibe back!
It isn’t that anyone is outright disobedient, but there are constant jabs and frictions. It is almost like certain activities or times of day (breakfast, riding in the car) spark immediate rudeness and attitude problems.
And then that creates tension in my husband and myself, and that moves down to the kids, and it seems like a cycle. I am not real sure how we got here, but I am wondering if anyone has gone through this before and how to solve it?
Any book suggestions, thoughts, etc. are appreciated!
We have had some of this too. I can’t wait to start back to school soon for the routine and them having something more gainful to do with their time. I really think children thrive on a schedule even outside of school.
It probably is the needing more fresh air and exercise – especially as this has been a change for them. I know we have a LOT more of those problems in winter when we have a hard time going out as much – we definitely get “cabin fever”.
Fussing starts around here and I say, “oh someone needs character guidance I hear…. and you know I just happen to have a dirty ____________ (bathroom, floor, etc..fill in the blank) just too much of a coincidence to me, what do you think? Did you hear what I did or am I mistaken? They scramble with a lot of “sorry” flying around. I rarely even get it all out now before they start crawfishing on their rudeness. There are some days however that they are full out knee deep in dog washing though!!
Oh & they only get one of those friendly reminders in any given day. If I have to say it twice, then they get busy!
I have no real advice! But We have that problem around here if we’re on the go too much. We’ve been busy – away from home for 3 hours every day for the last two weeks (M-F, church on Su) and we are soooooo grumpy!!! I usually blame it on not having our routine going. Plus it just got really hot here – too hot to be outside!
We deal with this when we are way too busy, or way too lax in our routine. Finding balance and keeping up with a fairly simple routine going are key for us. We are fairly close to our start back up date. The closer it gets, the more our routine becomes frantic with activities, I think, in an attempt to divert boredom/crankiness. After about 2-3 weeks of beginning our study routine again, we find our groove and all is right with the world. On the other end of it, when we are winding down to begin holiday/summer routines, we go through a bit of cranky transition. I wish it weren’t true, but maybe we’re nervous about change? Might be a bit of fear/stress of the unknown. It must be dictated by me, I’m sure. Are we doing enough? Did we finish well? How long will canning last? Shall we study more during breaks/less during the “main school year” in order to have some sort of constant routine? These are questions that bounce around in my brain when I’m nervous or cranky. I should remember to be content in all things. That would carry over to my kids. Joy would abound. 🙂
My thoughts would be: exercise & outside time (as mentioned), character training, good hobbies.
We school year round with small breaks. I find a lighter school schedule in summer is nice to keep some routine and still allow extra time to enjoy good weather things.
Our kids love piano and strings. Music practice takes time, focus, and lifts their spirits. On top of their individual practice time, they also play strings together (violin, viola, cello) which is even better. Any good hobby would help foster spending time usefully and feeling a sense of accomplishment. Gardening is a good one, and square foot gardening can be done in most places.
Just a couple of thoughts.
The hobbies are an excellent point. We had a ‘shop’ at our old house and the boys loved to build things together out there – that was something that went away when we moved, and I hadn’t thought about replacing it with another positive hobby.
My daughter is always content… and she has music, sewing, knitting, art projects, etc. going on all the time!
We have a homeschool orchestra that meets in the fall – maybe I should consider that for my boys.
I’ll do a boys handicraft search in the meantime!
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