Why Snowdays Are Not As Productive As You Hope

We have been snowbound for 6 days. And not, oh school is closed so we’re just going to go to the mall, snowbound. But our street was just plowed at midnight of Day 5 kind of snowbound. And we can’t even go out for a walk because there’s 2’ of snow outside kind of snowbound. So you would think that all to-do lists would be cleared by the time the snow melts. You’d think. Unless you are snowbound with your hubby and four children and a dog.

When the snow falls and its pretty clear everything is cancelled, the initial response is “ahh, no running around from here to there, imagine all the things I can get done in the house.”  You revisit the list – reading the library book that’s already overdue, staining that Pinterest-inspired cute table you found at a yard sale, finally clearing the 483 emails in your in-box, cleaning out your closets and putting away the summer clothes, starting (or finishing) the next great American novel… the list goes on. And by day 6 you would think – that list is cleared. You had 144 hours of not going nowhere.

But alas. As the snow melts, you are only on page 10 of reading the overdue book, on page 2 of writing the great novel, increased your inbox by 25 emails and pinned 72 more ideas to your Pinterest boards. How did this happen? I’ll tell you.

• You let the kids sleep in – great decision. But you so enjoyed the quiet, you actually sat down, looked at the snow and finished your coffee while it was hot. – 1 hour
• Since you usually give the kids a pop-tart and juicebox for breakfast, you decided to make french toast, sausage, potatoes, and eggs with all this un-rushed time. And eat it with them. – 2 hours
• While the kids went out in the snow, you got a few things done, but when they came back, you mopped the floor of melting snow, dried off the dog, and triaged hanging up wet coats, gloves, scarves, pants, and socks all over the house. – 1 hour
• The kids were hungry and cold when they came in so you cooked home-made chicken soup and hot chocolate. Again the mom guilt of actually fixing them hot food instead of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. – 1 hour
• With all this found time, surely, there’s time to catch up on How to Get Away with Murder. – 8 hours
• And you missed The Martian in the theatres. - 2.5 hours
• Hmmm… was Gone Girls the movie as good as the book? – 2.5 hours
• If you were lucky enough that your kids still like you enough (or need a big person to pull the sled) to ask you to come sledding with them, you went. – 3 hours
• Sledding is a lot more effort than your Zuumba class, so it warranted a nap. – 2 hours
• Folks who are home eat A LOT!  You are doing dishes 3 or 4 times a day. – 2 hours
• If your kids still want to hang out with you, you got wrangled into a game of charades or Monopoly or Scrabble or JustDance! – 2 hours
• You had to check on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram to see how everyone else was doing in the snow. And post your own pictures of your snow covered street, the pretty snow on the branches, and all the cookies you were baking. – 3 hours
• You were baking cookies. – 1 hour

Now add that all up. In most cases, multiply by 6. Add to it the loads of wet, cold laundry you have. And the re-inventorying grocery shopping you now have to do. And refinishing your floors. And rescheduling the doctor’s appointment, teacher conference, basketball game, and PTA meeting that you missed.  Renew your library book, continue to carry notes for your great novel (really do try to write at least 30 minutes a day), commit an hour to that closet, and keep the satin handy. You’ll eventually get those to-do items checked off. Just now during the snowstorm.

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Currently… Taking Advantage of a 2-Hour Delay

Last week, I was crossing my fingers for a snow day. It was my tired mother’s plea for the closest I’m going to get to a vacation for a while.  On Tuesday, we got one.  Then a “no after school activities” day and – here’s a new one – a Saturday snow day where everything, most importantly, my son’s swimmeet, was cancelled.  Today, we have a 2-hour delay.  It’s easy to laze about for the extra time, but here’s how I’m making the two hours productive.

Sleep in just a little bit. The kids would love to sleep an extra two hours, but that really throws off their schedule. And then our whole scramble awake, sleepily get washed up and dressed, rush through breakfast, forget our lunchbox and run out the door routine gets pushed back two hours. So I let them sleep in a little, about an hour for the high schooler since she (we) get up so dang early on a regular day.

Get a few chores done. The extra time in the morning is great for getting in a load of laundry, cleaning rooms, taking out the trash.  And finding those papers that are due back to school today.

Rhyming. Dr. Seuss’s birthday is March 2 and his family is releasing a new book, What Pet Should I Get? in July.  Writing a Seuss-style rhyme is a fun way to fill the morning (and shhh…work on writing skills and creativity).  Inspired by The Guardian posted rhyming challenge.

Cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  With the extra time this morning, I cooked grits (yumm!) and bacon for breakfast, made spaghetti for lunch, and have already started dinner.  The collards are on the stove, the roast is in the oven.  These were going to go in the crockpot while I was out today, but I’m cooking them the old-fashioned way since I’m home a little longer.  Imagine – dinner might hit the table before 8 pm.

Writing. An all-day in-school event was cancelled due to the delay so that opens up my day until this afternoon. Here’s to making these found hours productive.

What do you do with your 1 or 2 hours school delays?

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Currently... Hoping for a Snow Day

I've bought my coffee, creamer, and eggs and have cases of Girl Scout cookies. I am ready to be snowed in.  And, for once, I am hoping that the weather man will be right!

It's not that I really need a day locked in with my kids. But I'm ready to have my calendar erased for a day. Just one day. I thought it would be today, because today is a federal holiday, but apparently, high school basketball coaches don't really care about the birth of our Founding Fathers.  And you know how it is, once you get dressed, churn up the car and drive someone to practice, you might as well run some other errands and next thing you know, you're in Target buying Valentine themed socks because they're only $2 and it's 1 o'clock by the time you get home and you realize you've not done anything you planned to do today.  Add this to a crazy weekend, that also became busier than expected, as always.  So when do we get a break?

One of my BFFs and I have said, "enough, we need a mom vacation!" A break from dishes and laundry and homework and asking husbands about their day at work or long-distance calls to husbands working out of town for weeks at a time and sports activities and all the stuff that makes a mom feel like getting a manicure is some type of vacationing nirvana.  So we looked at our calendars to figure out when we are going to take this wonderful, mom-only, umbrella-drink hosted vacay.

Well, there's the six kid birthday weekends to cross out because mom can't miss a birthday.

And no to Mother's Day because that's the day the family gets to choose what mom should do.

Then there's spring break and Easter, can't be gone when the kids are out of school or on a pretty major religious holiday.

Then there's the grandparents' vacation because who else will watch all these kids while we're gone?

Oh, well, now we're up to the first day of school and we've got to be around for that.

And there's no way dad is going to be able to get Halloween costumes together.

Yes, please weatherman, please be right. It seems like being locked in my house in 10-degree weather is my best vacation option right now.  At least there's rum.

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Currently... Snowed In Again

Less than a week before the little square marked "First Day of Spring" and we've got inches of snow. 4", 5", a foot, I don't know - enough to close school again for the 11th or 55th snowday this year, I've lost count.  They're going to be in school until the July 4th parades at this point.  In the meantime, we're all home.

It's snowing...again. But spring is coming!

Eating... birthday cake and Pi-day apple pie.  We've got two birthdays this month and with Pi Day thrown in, we have a couple week run of desserts.  Right now we've got a basketball-shaped red velvet cake (okay, half a basketball) and an apple pie, sprinkled with snickers bars (thanks, Pinterest.)  All that with coffee, of course.

Reading... I'm reading On The Come Up.  The kids are all supposed to have selected a book, too. Although for them it takes some huffing & puffing, a few rounds of "there's nothing to read" despite the piles and shelves of books around the house, which turns into "I've read all those," at which point I let them know I do not actually believe they've read every book in the house, and if so, there's always the dictionary. Then they manage to find something to read, even if it's the Guiness Book of World Records or Almanac of Weird Facts, at which point, I almost regret making them read because these they must read out loud, sharing all of their newfound knowledge of odd facts.

Playing... out in the snow. Okay, well, not me, the kids.  There's four of them and a couple neighbor kids, they don't really need me.  I've declared recess before lunchtime, just like in school, and sent them out for some physical activity.  It's good for them.


Working out... shorts and t-shirt wardrobe season is coming, I'm sure of it.  I'm committing to exercise more as the winter melts away.  Even stuck in the house, there's always sit-ups, hand weight exercises, inside cardio like jumping jacks and running in place to get the heart moving.  And work off all this birthday cake.

Looking forward to... the end of the snow. It's pretty, it's peaceful, and I really don't complain too much about the weather, not really. But it's terrible weather for suede boots and I'm tired of my all weather boots.  So now I'm going to paint my nails some wonderful spring color and wait for sandal season.
 

Ready for spring... at least my nails are.

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We've Been Doing Snowdays All Wrong

On day 5 of our snow day/weekend/holiday stretch of no school, it occurred to me why moms get so tired, but get less done when the kids are home.  It happened as a culmination of watching moms corral hordes of kids through the movie theatre and then sit staring at their broken nails at an indoor laser tag playland.  Moms hate snow days because when the kids are home, we have to become the entertainment provider, chaffeur, and cook for an additional six hours of the day.

I’ve told my kids, “I am not your cruise director.”  Of course, they have no idea what this means, not having grown up watching The Love Boat, but I say it anyway and they give me that “there she goes again, saying things we don’t understand” look.

Nonetheless, we moms often find ourselves being in charge of entertainment, or at least chauffeuring to entertainment, otherwise, they sit on the couch watching endless, not-funny, canned laugh track kids’ TV or home decorating and cooking shows that they just truly can't find interesting.  Of course, the driving takes up time we would be doing whatever it is we usually do when they're in school (laundry, housework, writing, getting a manicure and full-body massage – okay, okay, a girl can dream).  And then we sit there and wait for them to finish being entertained.  Eventually, the kids also want to be fed, so either we pay for a wonderful restaurant meal with kids who have been cooped up in the house or make lunch (which for some reason seems to be a lot more work when they are home than when I pack their lunches in the morning.)

As we left the laser tag place, I said to my two who were too young to be left there alone, “You know, you can play tag at home. You don’t have to go to a certain place and pay $10 to play for half an hour.”  Blank stares flashed at me from the rearview mirror.

“Where would we get lasers from?”  “And how would we make it dark?”  “And how would we know that the other person got hit?”

I carefully explained to them that (1) they could wait ‘til dark and play with flashlights or (2) play in the day time and just tag each other.  Or hey, what’s all this white stuff on the ground? Maybe if they formed it into little balls, they could throw it at each other.  In the summer, they could maybe exchange it for water guns or water balloons.  And they could play for however long they wanted to, not just until the timer went off.  Just thinking, but these alternatives just might work.  They were amazed by my ideas.

Now I’m rethinking snowdays. Next time, I’m not scouring my brain for things I can do with them in the house or places to take them when the roads are clear.  I’m going to let them sleep in a little bit, feed them breakfast, pack their lunches, and then send them outside with instructions not to come back until 3 pm.  I'll be inside, painting my nails.

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10 Ways to Avoid an "I'm Bored!" Snow Day

“Schools are closed due to snow.”

The music of winter, singing at 5:30 a.m.  On the one hand, it’s a welcome “go head, sleep in” refrain. But when you do finally wake up, you realize that it means you will be in the house with the kids all day long, especially if it’s a wet, yucky snow that’s useless for sledding and snowman building.  Before you start to panic, some ideas of what to do with your kids for those housebound extra hours (or days).

• Enjoy a good breakfast.  How often do you get to enjoy a good breakfast, all sitting down together and chatting in the morning? For us, breakfast is usually a choice of boiled eggs, cereal and toasts, in a rotation of whoever is leaving for school or work next.  Snow days are a great opportunity to scramble some eggs, flip a few pancakes, make potatoes and biscuits, and all eat at once around the table instead of on the way to the bus.

• Bake.  I love baking, my kids love baking, and who doesn’t want warm cookies or muffins on a cold, winter-y day?  Luckily, most quickbreads and basic cookies require only the staples of a kitchen pantry – flour, sugar, an egg or two, milk, oil, salt, baking powder or soda. You can get fancy if you happen to have other ingredients such as chocolate chips, blueberries, nuts, and oatmeal on hand.

• Watch some old TV.  With the millions of channels on TV now, there's always some old show on that's family friendly. You'll get a kick out of watching your old favorites and you'll be surprised at how much your kids will enjoy shows that were really funny.  Gilligan's Island anyone?

• Cut out snowflakes.  I forgot, until I spotted a few on Pinterest, how much I used to love cutting out snowflakes as a kid. It’s still a fun surprise to see what the holes and cuts will look like when you’ve unfolded the paper.

• Keep a stash of random craft supplies on hand and let the kids be creative.  In addition to the norm, like crayons, scissors, and glue sticks, stash the following in a basket and be ready for “I’m bored!”:  buttons – from clothes not in good condition to give away, the spares attached to new clothes; magnets – the free, promotional give-aways or store bought; yarn, string; beads; stickers; plastic bottle tops.  Don't want to be fancy? Color - it’s relaxing and a fun time to just chat with the kids. And show off how well you can stay in the lines.

• Keep a “bored kids” board on Pinterest, for that moment when the kids are losing their creative energy and start throwing buttons at each other and have eaten all the cookies.  Add to it whenever you come across an idea your kids will like.

• Read. Call for quiet reading and everyone to their separate corners or cuddle up on the couch for family reading, silent or aloud. Gauge it by the energy level in the house or the need to settle down.

• Do a little school work.  The kids will complain and whine a little, but remind them that they are only going to do 30 minutes or an hour, and they’re getting out of 6 hours of work at school.  Depending on the grade, you can practice math facts, review lessons in their text books or online, read, or simply write a few paragraphs to practice handwriting or typing skills, grammar, spelling, and creative thinking.

• Clean up, declutter.  Not the most fun thing to do, but snow days can be good catch up days on the housecleaning that gets pushed aside for the busy family schedule.  Limit the time so that the kids can have some fun, though.

• Take a nap.  Who really gets enough sleep on a regular basis?

Oh – and of course, go outside, breathe the cold air, gather a bowl of fresh snow for snow-cream and throw a few snowballs!

What are your favorite activities on a snow day?

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