Mommy-Guilt Erased

It's amazing how one of those days I might consider the week's (even though the week has just begun) most unproductive days could very well turn out to be this week's most meaningful and productive days for my family. Maybe! We'll see! (They say if you document the events of a given day, you'll see just how much the day was worth, so I'm testing that theory.)

After browsing Spiritual Parenting with Mimi Doe when my home was quiet and still at the day's end, I found myself reflecting a little more deeply about my day...about my what's now yesterday when I felt I had not accomplished anything much -- the day I allowed my son Caleb way more video-game time than normal.

As my son worked his way through several levels of a sport's video game yesterday, I kept asking myself: "Gosh, why am I allowing him to put so much time into that game?" My only answer is that I didn't have enough energy yesterday for "rules." Apparently, rules went out the door that day for both of us. I was at the computer for longer than I should have been, and I tried to comfort myself with these thoughts: "We're an active, connected family. He was in an intense basketball camp last week. He's so athletic and active. One day of nothing -- um, of a lot of video-game playing -- is not going to harm him."

So, turns out, we both had one of those tech days. However, somewhere before, in between and/or after the tech stuff, this fit into our day:

~ Ate breakfast out by our pool and chatted about this and that. I juiced him a fresh orange juice to go with his scrambled eggs and toast.

~ I read Chapter One from "The Purpose-Driven Life" by Rick Warren during my devotional time before my son awoke, and then I read it to him after breakfast. He completely gets what Warren means by "It all starts with God.....It's not about me."

~ At some point in between that video-game playing, he finished reading "On The Court With...Kobe Bryant" by Matt Christopher and began "Island of the Blue Dolphins" by Scott O'Dell.

~ When I prepared a late lunch for us (after a not so early breakfast), he walked about the house kicking a small ball attached to a string and humored himself with the many stunts he was able to do with the ball. At one point, he requested I follow to watch his control over the ball. I did!

~ As he kicked that ball, he also verbally made up a really cool story about a trip he and his friend Dalton took to Japan. (I can't wait to tell Dalton's mom about that.) In that story, Caleb and Dalton had managed to spray an amazing type of spray over their parents that made us sleep for nine days, and that's how they were able to go to Japan and return home without us even knowing about it. He talked about the foods they ate there and the places they visited. I actually started to wonder if he and Dalton really did sneak away to Japan. He continued the story based on the questions I asked.

"Where was Christian (another of his best friends) when you and Dalton went to Japan?" I asked.

"He got in trouble, so he couldn't go?" he replied.

"Trouble? How so?" I asked.

"He managed to get the spray over his dad, but not his mom," he explained, "so she found out what he was doing, so he couldn't go."

Seriously, the story was really cool. I love his imagination.

Anyway, back to the remaining events of our day:

~ When my husband came home from work, he and our son wrestled. I tried to be a part of it without being a part of it, so to speak. I soon went back to the kitchen to finish preparing dinner.

~ We sat down and ate as a family. Caleb brought laughs to the table, as usual.

~ Later in the evening, as my husband relaxed on the bed while familiarizing himself with the features of his new and improved cell phone -- his new toy (Geez, just add to our mega tech day why don't you?), we went in to share our presence with him. When I plopped on the bed, the thought of a neck massage overcame me, followed by a full back massage. The youthful but strong hands of my son were up for the challenge. He joked that the charge would be $10, but the final cost would be $12.07 with tax. His ability to give powerful neck and back massages continues to amaze me, by the way.

~ We had a tickle session after that followed by our attempts to pull Daddy into our giddiness, however, I guess Daddy was too tired from work or from wrestling earlier. But, we didn't let his no-fun attitude spoil ours; we kept on giggling.

~ Somewhere along the way, the boy made his way back to that doggon video game without me initially realizing where he was. Why? Because I had made my way back to the doggon computer. What was I thinking?

~ Eventually, he got ready for bed, and we reconnected for some quality time once again. We relaxed on the couch (well, he hung upside down on the couch for part of the time), as I read "How It Pays Sometimes To Be Small" from "African-American Children's Stories: A Treasury of Tradition and Pride." From that book, I also read a couple of pages about the work of Dr. Carter G. Woodson and Mary McCleod Bethune.

~ Next, it was prayers, hugs, "Good Night" and "I love you."

Then, for me, it was..........yup, you guessed it -- back to the computer. I know, I know...too much computer time yesterday, but so well worth it. Why? Because during one of my last go-arounds for the night -- reading blogs -- I came upon Books for Africa, a project that is now calling our names!

You know, to think a day of pure leisure in a tech type of way brought me to my next completely meaningful parenting task -- Books for Africa!

Seems to me like even when we occasionally throw authority out the door (as I did yesterday), we can still very much be parenting spiritually. Right, Mimi? :-)