giving thanks for work and rest (the end of the school holidays)

School holidays. Ours have just finished; you might be half way through yours, if you're a mum in another state of Australia. If you're not a mum, you'll have your own times of weekly and annual rest.

By the end of term I'm hanging out for the holidays. I start each term with energy to do the extras: catch up with friends, make dentist appointments, organise play dates. At term's end I'm dragging my feet through the hours, longing for a lazy day and a morning when I won't have to get the kids out the door at 8.45.

By the end of school holidays, I'm looking forward to the routine of term-time: making lunches, driving the kids to school, and coming home to a quiet house with just one child in it. We're running low on cereal, there are dust bunnies in the corners, and I've had enough noise and chaos to last me for a while. On the first day of term, it feels good to pack up the toys and get out the vacuum cleaner.

Isn't it good that God gives us times of work and times of rest? Isn't it good to work hard each week then take a day's rest, and exchange months of work for a few weeks' rest? Today I'm thanking God for school holidays and term time; for the work-rest pattern of my days.

image is from Thomas Hawk at flickr

back from holidays

Hello everyone! We're back from holidays, so things should soon return to normal here on in all honesty (as soon as I muster up the energy to write something, that is).

During the last two weeks, we've been away at Summit, the mid-year conference for our university Christian group, then at Phillip Island for a family holiday.


It was great to have a break, because last term was very, very busy. I always read a lot - as you know! - but I outdid myself by reading, in part or in whole, an enormous pile of 30 books on sex and sexual purity, then wrote 2 seminars for our female university graduates.

This was in the midst of ordinary family life, with its seemingly endless succession of appointments (doctor, dentist, haircuts, checking out high schools for Lizzy ... ) and weeks of boys at home with the flu. No wonder if I felt a little discouraged! I can't wait to get back to regular exercise and normal quiet times (ones not dominated by preparation, that is!) this term.

Steve was also busy writing 4 great talks on the love of God for our mid-year conference (you can download them here). He gave the talks 2 times in 7 days - once for our students, once for our graduates - while I watched the kids running around the campsite, prepared and gave my seminar, and packed and unpacked all our belongings 4 times in 9 days as we moved from home to campsite room to room to holiday house!


By the time we got to Phillip Island, I didn't even have the energy to read, which is pretty unusual for me! Instead, I set a personal record by doing 4 1000 piece jigsaws in 4 days, and went for long walks and watched the birds - pelicans, cormorants, Pacific gulls, oyster catchers, skuas - going about their beachy business.

The kids had fun too: they got all goose-pimply paddling in the waves and building sandcastles and elaborate driftwood sculptures, watched fairy penguins scurrying up the beach, went on a glorious walk to the Nobbies blowhole and didn't see the seals, caught and ate rainbow trout (worms on hooks - ugh!), and even visited a slightly bizarre but enjoyable chocolate factory!

God knew what we needed. I'm feeling refreshed and ready to face another term. I've been praying for all the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal 5:22-23) - and I know I'll need every one, as I seek to glorify God during the coming days.

organising your child's day

A number of years ago I received a great little guide to a child's day in a Carnival Club handout called "Does your child get their daily dose?".

I cut it out, pinned it to my noticeboard, and every now and again I read it and do a mental check of our children's days. It's particularly useful for kids who are still at home all day, like my Andy, and for older kids during school holidays.

Here's the 5 different kinds of activities they say every child should be doing every day. (It's interesting to see that prayer - and meditating! - are filed under "Chill Out"; and good to see that children are encouraged to serve others.)

Our juggler outlines a child's ideal day at work, rest and play ...

Read for fun
Developing an enjoyment of books and being read to is vital for language development. Reading for fun encompasses reading books, jokes, poems, rhymes, letters, newspapers, comics, magazines etc. Recommended 30 mins a day.

Huff 'n' Puff
Physical activity is vital to keep the body and thus the mind in top shape. Huff 'n' Puff means running, jumping, playing games, skipping, playing with balls, climbing, and walking. Doing anything that gets the heart rate up. Recommended 60 mins a day.

Create 'n' Think
Creative and thought-provoking activity helps to build and grow the mind. Create 'n' Think activities are doing art, craft, drawing, painting, singing, cooking, exploring, discovering, building and experimenting. Recommended 30 mins a day.

Help 'n' Care
Helping and caring for others encourages children to become socially responsible. Help 'n' Care covers activities like volunteering, charity work, simple chores, being environmentally aware or looking after something. Recommended 30 mins a day.

Chill Out!
Time to relax is so important in assisting children to handle stress, sleep better and perform better at daily tasks. Chill Out activities include doodling, praying, meditating, listening to music or just watching the clouds. Recommended as much as possible.

school holidays

This was written on a melancholy morning a week ago, but it felt more suitable for a few days before school starts - so I kept it for today.

The school holidays are running past too fast, like cotton from a quickly spinning reel.

I scramble to get last minute jobs done. I write chores charts and budgets; organise late play-dates; finish holiday tasks (I planned to declutter the house, and I'm about half done); buy school shoes; take kids to appointments with the dentist, doctor and hairdresser; label books, pencils and school clothes.

I'm sunk deep in the vagueness of holidays, befuddled by weeks of Christmas and beachside vacation and near-constant outings. The imminent responsibilities of the year creep across my thoughts like the dark moon of an eclipse.

Term time threatens the loss of my children's company, but it also beckons with the promise of some kind of restored routine, quietness, and neatness that doesn't disappear in the blink of an eye under the towering piles of mess created by 4 busily playing children.

The first day of school looms like a little bereavement, a small farewell, a practice for bigger goodbyes. I'll kiss my children and watch them walk through the gates. I'll return to our neat and empty home, where my 3 year old son and I will rattle around like 2 small peas in an overlarge pod, until we grow used to the silence.

Until the next school holidays.

image is from ohdearbarb at flickr

cool change

Here's a story about one day during our school holidays a couple of weeks ago. A story of summer.

It's sweltering. The electricity has been off for 15 hours. Every time we ring the power company, the estimated time for blackout's end changes: 10:00 am, 1:00 pm, 4:00 pm. It's over 35 degrees Celsius* outside the house and about the same inside.

We didn't get much sleep last night. The radio smugly informs us that it was the hottest night in Melbourne for 108 years. We're sweaty, grumpy and exhausted. Our frozen food is slowly defrosting and the fridge gave up the battle to keep the milk cool hours ago. Steve goes out to pick up a couple of bags of ice, and we throw them hopefully into the chest freezer.

I ring the local pool and ask if they've managed to stay open without power. "Of course!", says a cheerful receptionist. "We're having a little trouble with cooling, but we are open!"

We pull on our bathers, gather a pile of towels and goggles, drive to the pool in the blissfully airconditioned car, and slip into the kiddies' pool. It's a little like a giant, lukewarm, overpopulated bath.

My tension ebbs away into the rippling light. Water slaps gently on the sides of the pool. Voices echo off the cavernous ceiling. Women surreptitiously eye one another's swimwear choices.

Our six year old son shows off his new swimming skills and begs for one more game of "I'll chase you, you chase me". Our three year old giggles and kicks me painfully as he explores this exciting liquid element. The older kids chase each other down the lime green waterslides.

We dodge balls and children in the shallow kiddies' pool. We gasp as we plunge into the over-heated churning spa. We slip into the welcome coolness of the adults' pool. When we walk between pools, the chlorine-scented air feels heavy and sultry on our damp skin.

It's 4:00 when the overhead lights flick on: the blackout is over, right on time. Almost simultaneously, the cool change comes. We shiver pleasurably as cold air floods through the open doors. The glaring blue sky melts into soft cloud. Rain pelts down.

We're wet already, so we step outside, onto damp grass under dripping trees. We lift glad faces to the emptying clouds. A flock of cockatoos wheels and screeches high in the grey. I raise my arms and surrender my skin to the hard, pummeling rain.

Cool change in Melbourne.

* That's 95 degrees Fahrenheit. The day before, it reached 43.6 degrees Celsius (over 110 degrees Fahrenheit), so I guess I should be glad the blackout held off for a day!

images are from tybcat_64 and bitzcelt at flickr

aaargh! I haven't finished my school holiday tasks!

Hi everyone! It's been a busy, bustling school holidays (isn't it always?!) and we've got one week to go here in Victoria. I almost feel ready to start blogging again!

I've got lots to tell you about - plenty of reflections on life, what I've been feeling, and what I've been thinking about - but my thoughts haven't quite come together yet. So you'll have to be a little patient.

If you're nearing the end of school holidays, I guess you're feeling like me. You're probably refreshed by all those weeks with no school, but at the same time exhausted by having kids at home all day! Maybe you feel overwhelmed by the tasks you want to finish before the school year begins: the menu planners, the chores charts, the haircuts, the pencil labelling.

My friend shared something wonderful the other day: it doesn't matter if all these tasks aren't done by the start of term. Once term time comes, the house will be a lot emptier and there will be time to write budgets and menu planners. Who says they have to be done by the first day of school? Not God! So I guess I can give myself a little breathing space.

My sister-in-law also said something helpful: a mother's holidays start the day the kids go back to school. I usually expect to feel rested by the end of school hols, but I'm realising that's probably unrealistic. So I haven't scheduled any extras during first term. I plan to use that time (God willing!) to rest, reflect, get the year running smoothly - and enjoy having 3 year old Andy all to myself! I'll also read a Christian book just for me, to help me grow. (It's Paul Tripp's Lost in the Middle: Midlife and the Grace of God, which is a little embarrassing!!)

I'd better go now. I've got 4 children to look after and a very messy school holiday house to tidy. I'll post a couple of fun things this week. Maybe by next week I'll feel ready to write something more serious - you never know! In the meantime, if you're on school holidays too, don't worry if you haven't got everything done by the start of term, and take some time to enjoy your kids. :)

school holiday fun - make an oobleck!

With school holidays coming up, here's an idea for a messy, gooey, simple, educational, fun holiday project, which is easy to make and easy to clean up afterwards: make an oobleck!


An oobleck, as we all know, a kind of colloid, in which solid particles are suspended in a liquid. It's a mysterious substance which is sometimes solid and sometimes liquid - and lots of fun to play with!

If you put pressure on it, it becomes a solid, and you can roll it into a ball between your hands:


If you take the pressure off, it becomes more liquid:


until it flows through your fingers:


So how do you make it? Simple! Put 2 cups of cornflour into a bowl and add a few drops of food colouring. Add 1 cup of water - SLOWLY! - while someone else mushes the mixture in the bowl by hand. Then have fun!

While you're at it, why not read Dr Seuss' Bartholomew and the Oobleck? Science, story-reading, and slimy fun, all in one!

spending time with children

For those of you still on school holidays (and for the rest of us, too!) here's a great way of thinking about spending time with children. I found it in our kids' school newsletter. It's from Ellen Galinsky's Ask the Children.

Ellen Galinsky asked real kids what they thought about spending time with their parents. She says there are 3 kinds of together time parents can spend with kids:

• One-on-one time. This is quality time set aside to spend with one child - reading a book, playing a game, talking, going out for a milkshake or taking a child to work. As children become teenagers, she suggests it can be helpful to formalise this time by having a "date" with them a few times a year.
• Hang around time. This is time when parents and kids are hanging around the house together, often on weekends or during holidays, and interactions come and go. These interactions might happen when you say to your child, "Come and help me bring in the washing" or your child says to you, "Can you help me with this lego?".
• Rituals and celebrations. These are unique to every family. They might be as simple as a bedtime routine, or as complicated as a Jesse tree at Christmas time. Mealtimes are important times for a family to sit together, chat about what's happening, learn table manners, exchange views and enjoy one another's company - and, hopefully, to read the Bible together! (I added that bit.)

All three kinds of together time build strong relationships within families. I'm going to keep thinking about how to make them part of our family life, both in holidays and term time.

image is from stock.xchng

from the archives: school holidays

School holidays have just started in Victoria. In most other Australian states, they're starting on Friday. There'll be a few posts from the archives during the next two weeks, mixed in with some new posts.

I thought this might be a good time to reprise part of this post, which I wrote at the end of the summer break. We were all sick, so it wasn't a great holiday, and by the end I was desperate for change! I'm reminding myself - as much as you! - about what makes a good school holiday.

I've already made sure we're having more routine and less screen time, and the kids have lots of activities planned with friends. I'm exhausted, so I'm not sure the other activity ideas will happen - apart from some time with family at Easter! You might have some other ideas for school holidays. Anyhow, here's what I wrote:

Here's how I'd like to change things during our next school holidays:

• less screen time. I realised near the end of the holidays that the kids were grumpy partly because they were having too much TV and computer time. During term time, I limit their screen time to 30 minutes a day. But during the school holidays, screen time gradually crept up, leaving grumpy bored children in its wake.
• more planned activities. My children generally get along well, inventing games and playing happily together, so I'm happy to let them fill the hours enjoying each other's company. (Don't misunderstand me, there's plenty of times things don't run so smoothly in our house!) I don't normally need to come up with holiday amusements, so perhaps I've become a little lazy.
• extend the kids' learning. I've bought books like Hands-On Science, full of experiments for my science-loving son, and Teaching Art With Books Kids Love, full of art activities for my craft-loving daughter, but we rarely have time for them. The school holidays would be a wonderful chance to do these together.
• maintain daily routines. During holidays, it's easy to let the usual daily routines slip: Bible reading, piano lessons, breakfast together. It's good to take time away from normal routines to rest and relax, but a bit more structure in the day would help prevent the loose-endish holiday blues.
• keep doing the good stuff. There are lots of things I want to keep doing, like day trips, time with grandparents, and spending individual time with each of my children.

I've just found some excellent suggestions for school holidays on the internet, so it might be time to do some browsing!

Any other ideas or suggestions?

image is from stock.xchng

a story of school holidays and supermarkets

I was standing in the supermarket aisle, of all places, enjoying the silence.

It was one of those supermarkets with all the shivery refridgerated aisles up one end, the popular grocery aisles in the middle, and the deserted househood goods aisles right down the end. As I wheeled my trolley to and fro through the store, it grew warmer and darker, until I was standing in the unromantic surroundings of the toilet paper aisle, the only sound my 2 year old son Andy chatting away to me. Ah! The silence! No need to filter out all those layers of noise! I stood there and breathed deeply. Not quite a peaceful mountainside with the stillness broken only by the sound of birdsong, but it felt like it to me.

School holidays have just ended, and with them the constant, battering noise and demands of 4 bored children cooped up in a hot house (we've just had the longest, hottest heat wave in Melbourne since 1908).

I usually love school holidays. I love my children gathered around me, like ducklings safely clustered around a mother duck. I love the comfortable chaos and the noisy games and the quiet hours snatched with children who are so often away at school. But I didn't enjoy the 6 week school holidays which just ended.

By the end of the holidays, I had great sympathy for all those mothers who long for their children's return to school. Too many children whining, "I'm bored, Mummy! What can I do? Think of something for me to do!". Too many loud arguments: "He said ... ! She said ... ! She won't let me play! He won't leave me alone!". Too many never-ending needs for discipline and entertainment and food.

The worst moment was when I went supermarket shopping with the 4 children (yes, another supermarket story!) and had to threaten to go home and punish them after 1 minute because they were being so disruptive and disobedient. A new low point in my parenting experience.

Most of this was due to the fact that Steve was sick and I was worn out from looking after 4 kids on my own (I have new admiration for single mums, especially mums with boys!). But I think I could have done some things differently. Here's how I'd like to change things during our next school holidays:

• less screen time. I realised near the end of the holidays that the kids were grumpy partly because they were having too much TV and computer time. During term time, I limit their screen time to 30 minutes a day. But during the school holidays, screen time gradually crept up, leaving grumpy bored children in its wake.
• more planned activities. My children generally get along well, inventing games and playing happily together, so I'm happy to let them fill the hours enjoying each other's company. (Don't misunderstand me, there's plenty of times things don't run so smoothly in our house!) I don't normally need to come up with holiday amusements, so perhaps I've become a little lazy.
• extend the kids' learning. I've bought books like Hands-On Science, full of experiments for my science-loving son, and Teaching Art With Books Kids Love, full of art activities for my craft-loving daughter, but we rarely have time for them. The school holidays would be a wonderful chance to do these together.
• maintain daily routines. During holidays, it's easy to let the usual daily routines slip: Bible reading, piano lessons, breakfast together. It's good to take time away from normal routines to rest and relax, but a bit more structure in the day would help prevent the loose-endish holiday blues.
• keep doing the good stuff. There are lots of things I want to keep doing, like day trips, time with grandparents, and spending individual time with each of my children.

I've just found some excellent suggestions for school holidays on the internet, so it might be time to do some browsing!

Do you have any other suggestions for making school holidays happy, productive and relaxing? I'd love to hear about them!

images are from stock.xchng

school holidays at our house

It's the last days of school holidays here in Victoria. I haven't enjoyed them as much as usual, because with Steve so sick I've been looking after 4 kids on my own - settling arguments, entertaining kids, and doing all the normal home tasks. But we've still had lots of fun. Here's some pictures.

On day 1 of the holidays Lizzy organised a competition to vote for the top 3 activities, and came up with a play schedule.

There was a little too much screen time, until Mum put her foot down.
The entire living room became a cubby on several occasions (or a real-life computer game, if the boys had any say in it).

The children made slime and a lovely mess!
Lizzy organised a craft program for the boys, making caterpillars out of egg cartons.
The Christmas toys came out of their boxes.
The highlight? A new cousin. So cute!
Back to school tomorrow, and back to the school routine for me. *sigh*