Yesterday, we went to the Common to go on the Swan Boats and splash in the Frog Pond with repeat OSAH guest star, Ariel.

I’m starting to get into the groove with this temporary stay-at-home-mom thing, so I thought I’d share some tips from my award-winning* parenting handbook. These will be available in a published book as soon as we get more than one comment on a blog post and/or I go a single day without losing my s-word during a moment of epic parenting failure.

1. Bring reinforcements.

 

2. Make your kids do their part.

3. Encourage any and all energy-using activities.

4. Plan (or have your reinforcements, see #1) several activities so the kids don’t get bored.

 

5. Give them a little taste of parenting, so they recognize how hard it is.

6. Point out how amazing everything is, even things that might seem mundane to most.

7. Get a team photo for posterity. Hazy and George have named us Team Threebies, because there are three of us on our adventures.

 

Coming up in a future installment: how to handle an overtired tantrumming child when you yourself are an overtired overheated adult on the verge of a tantrum. I’m sorry, did I end that with a period? I meant to end it with a question mark.

*One time Hazy made me a Best Mom In the World drawing in school.