Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Ramblings by Jes, Part 6 - The Kids

So many things I could say about the kids.  I had hoped that having all this togetherness would help fix some of the negative behaviors of the kids.  I don't really think it worked.  Even though I am well aware that consistency is the key to getting the behaviors you want from kids, it is hard to have some consistency on a trip like this.  We had tried a couple punishment techniques early on and finally settled on video game restrictions (or restrictments as Matthew said) in the car.  The kids would get 10 minutes for each infraction, unless we deemed it worth more.  They did not have free access to games or movies in the car, so their restrictions would start when playtime was allowed.  That worked pretty well, although, if they were next to someone without restriction, they would just watch whatever that person was doing. 

One of the great things about a trip like this is the lack to chores.  There is no lawn to take care of, no dishes to do, no meals to cook, no animals to feed, no dog poop to pick up, but the kids still managed to complain about the small tasks that we asked them to do.  Every morning, we needed to pack up our clothes and our sleeping bags, if we used them.  We needed to wash and fill the water bottles that I had bought (great purchase, by the way) with ice and water.  And, then we needed to carry the stuff to the car.  Real difficult stuff!  Whines all around, most mornings.  It really drove us crazy.

But, I have to say that the kids were very good overall.  They were great in the car.  They could watch movies or play for hours, if necessary.  And, they were good even when we were listening to a book on tape.  When we headed into a national park or city, we would require the kids to turn everything off to look around.  This usually got some objections, but then they were fine. 

They were amazing about hiking.  I can't believe how well they did.  Occasionally, we would get a little whine about hiking from Matthew, but we'd just tell him we were just walking.  Then, he would be fine and head off to lead the pack.  There were times when we were hiking a lot, but no one really complained.  I was impressed with the kids over and over. 

They also never complained about food.  Buying the water bottles and filling them every morning really allowed us to always have cold, fresh water in the car.  This saved us a lot of money in buying water, and it kept the kids hydrated and from complaining about being thirsty.  But, I didn't do a good job of buying snacks for the car. So, we all had to wait until we could find a place to eat.  But, the kids just never complained.  It was amazing to me because at home we get lots of complaints about hunger.  But, it made the trip much better than it could have been. 

I think that the kids really enjoyed all these adventures.  There were moments when Alex would walk up to me and put his hand in mine.  I know that those days are probably short-lived, so I was cherishing every chance I got to walk hand-in-hand with him.  Rachel, too.  She and Dave have a great relationship, and they had many opportunities on this trip to head off together to check out something.  I know it makes her feel special and as much of that as possible at this stage of her life must be good.

Stay tuned for Dave's post on Cedar Point and the final update with all statistics about our trip.

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