I\u2019ve just spent almost a week without my kids at home for the first time ever. And I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve guessed it \u2013 it\u2019s been quiet, relaxing and restful. Who knew I was actually that tired that I managed to sleep for almost 16 straight hours! Obviously I didn\u2019t realise just how much energy and time our kids take each day. Now this is not a complaint at all. I am really missing them all, the first day was rather lonely and I kept hearing someone call \u201cmama\u201d randomly every now and then!<\/p>\n
This is the first time that they are away on a holiday with their grandparents. I think it does parents good to have some time out now and then \u2013 just to reconnect, reenergise and most importantly, to appreciate their kids more when they are around. We get so caught up in the daily admin of it all \u2013 the rushing around, the play dates, extra murals, homework, school, assignments\u2026 it literally never ends. I find myself starting to lecture the poor souls about how much I do for them and with them, how much is invested in their futures and how much I care for them at my own expense. (I know, that\u2019s a horrible thing to do but I bet all my premature grey hairs on my neglected, uncoloured head that all mums do that!)<\/p>\n
I had some grand plans \u2013 movies, suppers out with my husband, maybe a massage or some kind of treatment for us\u2026 Reading all the books I\u2019ve accumulated and never read. And guess what? I did none of that. Well maybe some of it because I definitely wasn\u2019t going to cook while I was having a fabulous kid-free week! In fact all I did was relax at home, tidy up some things that always seem to get left out and that was it. I am usually a person who prefers to stay home and have quiet time so this suited me just fine.<\/p>\n
Aside from all the perks of being home alone, what really made my heart happy was hearing how well-behaved my kids are. That they actually looked after their own belongings (I\u2019ll have to check their bags when they\u2019re back for confirmation on this), spoke nicely to each other and were in fact kind and caring to one and another. That\u2019s got to be the best part of it all \u2013 knowing that after all, when your kids are entrusted to someone else, that they are in fact a pleasure to have and be around. They have been thoroughly spoilt too \u2013 beach days, sightseeing, lots of yummy treats and food\u2026 I think it works out well for all of us \u2013 parents, grandparents and the kids too. Kids spending time with their grandparents gives them a different kind of nurturing and love \u2013 it\u2019s unconditional in a special kind of way. They learn so much as well because grandparents seem to have so much more patience and understanding with them.<\/p>\n
So while I didn\u2019t get to that massage or the movies, I\u2019m glad I had a bit of time out. I feel like missing them has renewed my affection for my kids in a whole different way\u2026<\/p>\n
This article was originally written for Jozikids by Fatima Kazee in 2016.<\/em><\/p>\n Note: If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to the uniquely detailed free weekly newsletter for parents in Gauteng \u2013\u00a0Jozikids<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/strong>or KwaZulu-Natal\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Kznkids<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve just spent almost a week without my kids at home for the first time ever. And I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve guessed it \u2013 it\u2019s been quiet, relaxing and restful. Who knew I was actually that tired that I managed to sleep for almost 16 straight hours! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":149,"featured_media":14202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-moms-mothers-single-mothers-being-a-mom"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/149"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}