I’ll be honest — Sam has too much screen time, and I’m always trying to whittle it down without him noticing. (It doesn’t work, but I keep trying, a sure sign of insanity.) He’ll do just about anything to have access to a screen even if it is a TV show showing an old Lawrence Welk Show. True story.
Well, this week Sam’s BFF had been out of school for the second straight weeks. He’s been recovering from having his tonsils out, the poor guy. It’s been sweet how much Sam has missed him. On the flip side it’s also been sad to hear about his lonely day at school when he gets off the bus.
So one day last week as we were about to head out the door, he became mysteriously ill. I kept asking, “Do you feel sick or do you just not want to go to school?” He said he felt achy and had a stomach ache, but I had one more test for him, the test of truth. “If you stay home, there will be no screen time. Do you still want to stay home?” He said yes, so I knew he really was sick.
With that I also knew that President, Vice President, and Secretary of the Sam McNamee Entertainment Committee for the day. So who was the one making the sacrifice? (I knew that Louise was going to sleep on any job assigned to her, so I decided not to even bother recruiting her.) But alas, I had to keep my word as much as I didn’t want to. All day long? It was 9 am. What in the world were we going to do?
Just when you think you know your kid inside and out, you realize you don’t at all. Within minutes I was nearly blown over — in a good way. Mr. Un-Crafty was crafting away! He got out some paper and started industriously making these neat little origami guys. And then he voluntarily started to COLOR them! Wow, he must have been sick, but I was not about to stop him!
Then he had a great time learning how to take pictures with my phone. As the grand arbiter, I decided that didn’t count as screen time. He was so proud of himself.
Then he inspired me to tap into my own inner craftiness. (It is way, way deep in there!)
