Comments on: Weekend recap: Festivities and older kids

By: Marcia (OrganisingQueen)

Marcia (OrganisingQueen) — Thu, 12 Dec 2019 17:47:46 +0000

In reply to Marthe Renders. Marthe, I love that as a South African who speaks Afrikaans as a second language, I can understand your Nederlands :)

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 13:20:19 +0000

In reply to Maggie.

@Maggie – Maybe an era-in-time thing… I know I was sitting as a robust business for other families at age 12 so yes, it should be totally fine — but maybe life feels different now 🙂

He has done a very good job proving his maturity and I look forward to seeing how this continues to progress! Being able to leave him in charge of all the kids (except the newborn when he arrives) will be very helpful for logistics.

By: Maggie

Maggie — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 09:33:44 +0000

I am wondering if it’s a cultural thing or a family thing but when I was 12 I babysat my newborn sister and toddler brother for several hours. So I’m not surprised your 12yo was fine with the 4yo for 20 minutes.
Probably depends on the kids though.

By: Marthe Renders

Marthe Renders — Tue, 10 Dec 2019 20:45:55 +0000

In reply to Annemieke. Very nice idea: the pizza and screentime night --> adult conversations in the dining room. Groetjes van een andere Nederlandse lezer!

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Tue, 10 Dec 2019 13:20:44 +0000

In reply to Annemieke. @Annemieke - these are all great resolutions! I love ones that are fun. And I'm so glad you enjoyed Cirque du Soleil!

By: Annemieke

Annemieke — Tue, 10 Dec 2019 07:59:52 +0000

Visit more museums (with or without the children), it helps if I look out for interesting exhibitions
Go to the theatre with every child and with my husband (already found the first show for my eldest)
Keep swimming at least once a week (is with a friend and we drink tea afterwards, so double fun)
Train for an “obstacle swim” (instead of obstacle run) in the summer with my sister (again double fun)
Go to Paris for a day (I’m from the Netherlands so this is doable by train)
And a new tradition: on Fridays my children eat pizza while I make ‘grown up food’ for my husband and myself. We eat en drink wine while they enjoy ‘unlimited’ screen time. No childcare involved and everybody is happy.
I recently bought an e-bike as substitute for the car and it makes my commute much better with lots of fresh air, podcasts and no traffic jams. I only have to buy a pair of new rain pants and there is really nothing to stop me cycling anymore (wet socks and shoes are no fun).

PS: Thank you for mentioning Cirque du Soleil on your December fun list. My frugal self never had let me buy tickets before. But they were here performing in The Hague and I just thought ‘my future self will not think about the money’. So I went with my daughter on Saturday and it was amazing. And I can add it on my ‘done before 40 list’ 🙂