What the h*ll am I doing?

[ftm42]

Frustrated right now - got all 3 kids at home - they were off last week and are still off this week. DH kindly got me a short-term contract and I'm at home working f-t because the school messed up last week's holiday club and I've arranged to work at home this week. What I wasn't planning for was the frustration of finding them things to do!

Neighbours kids all seem to end up at mine, so I often have 5 boys in the house! I have to plug myself into headphones and listen to podcasts/audiobooks/etc to be able to zone in on my work. In itself, that's not a bad thing for me as I'm getting an education, but they have spent the whole time watching TV or playing on their XBox, which they're delighted with but I'm not! I have contacted their friends mums to try to find out what their kids are doing but they're either on holiday or ignoring me as I've had no response from anyone, apart from my ES's pal. They've gone off to the movies together.

I have a list of daily chores for them to do but this week the novelty has worn off and I'm fighting with them to do their bit this week. They were very good last week. I've just booked the younger boys a movie on Sky and sent MS to the corner shop for popcorn so they can pretend they're at the movies like ES. Added to all this the fact that I've been recovering from surgery and my DH is working all the hours God sends including weekends, and I'm just starting to get a bit stressed about it all.

...end of whinge...

Any suggestions as to what else I can do with them, or am I actually doing OK?! They're 13, 11 and 7.

it's one week, you have a lot on your plate...a little benign neglect is ok. Be kind to yourself. Is DH out at work?

my 13-yr-old seems to have developed a horrid ''unless you give me £££ I am going to have a crap week'' attitude. He is frustrated because various injuires mean he is not as independant as usual and can't do lots of activities which we normally rely on in the hols like cycling, skateboarding etc. It is hard.
We are relying heavily on electronica here too!.

A walkj outside for all of you will do you al good though. Even if it is just to the supermarket - stock up on some cheap dvds and some baking stuff? Let them bake and decorate?

Done the baking thing too as it happens - but at the weekend. We also have 2 dogs, so they've been walking them for me twice a day (just the little park over the road) and hopefully if I finish before dark, we can all get out for a longer one together. Now that I'm physically fit enough to at least manage one dog, I can accompany them on a longer walk. I just can't get rid of the guilt (yes - the G word again - comes with the territory!) that they're wasting their time, even though they seem happy enough. I'm full of the 'they ought to be...

reading a book / visiting the museum / going to the park / playing with their friends outside' (delete where appropriate) thoughts!

oh man, i know the ''they ought to be...'' feeling. :)

Boot out their pals and don't let any more in. Woe betide the boy who lets someone in.

A boring week of benign neglect is no bad thing. They are on holiday from school, let them veg out.

Surely they have homework? [hgrin]