Mommy, I got nothing to do!!!

Jun 9 14:56 UTC 1993

The last day of school is rapidly approaching, the kids are getting older
and it not so easily entertained as they were a year or 2 ago.  Any  ideas
on (inexpensive) things to keep from hearing "Mommy, I have nothing to do"
or "Can I watch cartoons/TV".  If Damon goes off to play with a friend or
to ride around on his bike, Staci starts complaining that she has no one
to play with or nothing to do (funny since right now she only goes to
school in the afternoon and has no problems playing/occupying herself alone
during the morning).  I already have to deal with this after school and
can see it getting MUCH worse when we have to deal with the whole day
rather than the few hours between school and dinner and dinner and bedtime.

How do you get them to go to bed when it is still light out (God I hate
DayLight Saving Time)?  I do let them stay up a little later than school
time bedtime but am unwilling to let them stay up until it is full dark
on a regular basis.  I need some time alone to keep enough sanity to deal
with them during the day and I don't want to have to make drastic changes
with schedules when school starts again in fall.  We also have the problem
of Damon being a confirmed morning person and Staci being an afternoon/night
person.  She is often awakened by Damon because he is so awake, bouncy and
noisy when he gets up.  I then have to deal with a cranky daughter (the only
time she is bitchy is when she doesn't get enough sleep or her blood sugar
gets too low, then she can out bitch me, which isn't all that easy :-).

Kids are great fun, but can be such a bother.

response 4 of 4:

Jul 11 09:00 UTC 1993

I have a son who's a chronic complainer...he's always saying "I'm bored,
there's nothing to do!"  Any suggestions are met with a "That's no fun."
or "I don't want to."  soo...
I've taken to doing exactly what your coworker suggested, Valerie.  Oh,
I generally don't do it the first time, or usually the second, but after an 
afternoon of complaints, I have no compunctions about pointing out that
while the chore may not be fun, it *does* need doing...and if he's in a
bored mood anyway it can't make it much worse.  Sometimes one chore is
sufficient to bring something better to mind...and sometimes he comes back
and asks for another, because it did turn out to be better than sitting
around.  

I suppose it does just encourage him to keep the complaints to himself,
but after all, entertaining himself is *his* job, not anyone elses.
A complainer is no fun to be around, so encouraging him to gripe when
he's in a bored mood rather than thinking up things to do isn't doing
him any real favours.

(Mean?  I don't think so.  No more mean than me having to tackle most
of the chores myself because they have homework, music practice, and
visits with Pappa taking up most of their non-school hours.  Chores
need to be done, and *NO ONE* really wants to do them.  So why not get
in the habit of picking up a chore when that mood strikes?)