Friday, June 8, 2007

Special Day with Mom

I grew up as the oldest of 4 children. Life was always pretty hectic around our house, and my brothers and I often had to compete for our parents' attention. It was especially bad during the summer, when we were all home from school and often reciting that familiar mantra "Mom, I'm bored."

One summer my mom came up with a great idea. She scheduled a babysitter for 4 days out of the summer. Then she wrote each of our names on the calendar on one of those days. That was our special day with mom. There were very few guidelines concerning that day. We each had $10 to spend anyway we wanted. We could go anywhere we wanted, as long as it was legal and moral. That was it. Oh the planning we did. My brother, Brad, decided on a matinee. Justin wanted to go to the comic book store. Charles wanted to go to the toy store.

When my day arrived, I decided to go window shopping at the mall. My mom and I looked at clothes, toys, jewelry, and knickknacks. I think my mom was thrilled to do some "girl stuff". At the end of our day, we headed over to Coco's restaurant for hot fudge Sundays! Yum!

Every summer my mom continued this tradition. And every summer my mom and I would spend the day at the mall, followed by hot fudge Sundays at Coco's. Now that my mom is getting older and is not in the best of health, it's a memory I will treasure forever. And it's a tradition I'm going to start this summer with my own children. I wonder what they'll each decide to do with a free day and $10?

This post is my entry for Scribbit's Write-Away Contest for June. For more information on the contest, click here.

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6 comments:

Scribbit said...

That is a fun thing to do--my husband and I do a similar thing as a reward for good behavior. Thanks for entering.

Ice Cream said...

What a fantastic idea. My husband usually takes the kids out on special dates, but I never do. I think I will make this one of my priorities this summer.

carrie said...

That's awesome...we did this out in Arizona and the girls loved it..we did it about once a month

Daisy said...

What a great idea! The kids left "behind" with the sitter probably had a blast, too.

Erica Douglas said...

Lovely tradition, do you think it would work as well for one child, I'm sure Erin (and I) would love that...I wonder where she'd take me???

www.littlemummy.com

Patois42 said...

I love your entry to Scribbit's contest, and I love your tradition. Time for me to start that, too! Thanks for a great tip.