How To Get Through A Difficult Week: Tips From Kids

It’s no secret that some weeks are harder to get through than others.  On-the-job obstacles range from a tough meeting at work, a difficult project, having too many tasks and not enough time.

A difficult week for a kid might mean tests at school, losing homework, a fight with a friend, losing screen privileges for sassing your mom, having to do extra chores.

If you’re a stay at home mom, MY GOD there is no such thing as a difficult week because you have every day to fill with whatever you fancy, whether it’s getting caught up on your favorite reality TV show or spending the day getting your hair and nails done.

Ha ha ha.  My last haircut was in the middle of summer, and the last coloring job I had is grown out 6 inches at least.  And just yesterday I cleaned bathrooms and had my hands in two toilets, one of which had not been flushed in some time.   

It was… stinky.

Anyway, the kids and I were sitting at the table Monday evening for dinner, and they were in pretty good moods because Mondays at our house mean soup for dinner, their favorite.  My kids love Soup For Dinner Monday because it’s simple and simple dinners mean minimal clean up, and because I expect help when it’s time to clean up, having minimal clean up means they have more time to do other things they love.

I know.  I’m the meanest.

So they were talking about how easy dinners like soup make Monday more fun for them, because they know that they will have an easy night which makes Monday less of  a party-pooper than it already is.

(and now I will reflect on my own feelings about Monday, which is the first of five days in a row that I get to spend at home, all by myself)

***

The kids felt that every day should have its own thing to look forward to, in case you have a crappy day and need to daydream your way through it just to keep your head from exploding. 

It’s funny how my kids are so like me.  I’ve been employing this technique for years, and they came up with it all on their own.  Note that their fantasies do not involve Adam Levine but are instead appropriately-aged, not to mention realistic and easily adapted to any person. 

Although I would argue that thinking about Adam Levine while scrubbing toilets is not a bad way to get through that particular chore.

The following is what my children came up with:

Tips for Getting Through a Difficult Week

On Monday, plan on doing something fun in the evening.  Don’t schedule anything on Monday evenings – ease into your week.  Have soup for dinner so you can spend extra time playing video games and watching Disney channel shows on a loop.

On Tuesday, just do your regular thing.  Nobody really minds Tuesdays. (I would add that Tuesday is thought to be the most productive day of the week.  Try not to plan too much, and watch as your to-do list is completed in record time.  Then take a nap.)  Alternately, eat tacos on Tuesday.  Everyone loves Taco Tuesday.

Wednesday is Hump Day.  Yell out Hump Daaaaay! every chance you get.  Delight in the potential annoyance factor of this activity.  Play that commercial where the camel yells "HUMP DAYYYYY" at everyone every hour on the hour until you’re asked to stop, which won’t happen because everyone still loves it, because it’s genius.

Everybody loves Thursday.   Like Tuesday, nobody really minds Thursday.  Technically the day before the weekend officially starts, you can use Thursday as a springboard for planning the weekend.   Personally, I think the love of Thursday comes from Must-See TV in the 80s and 90s.

Fridays can be awesome, but they can also be terrible.  According to my kids, most tests occur on Friday, which sucks (yes, my kids say sucks.  I’m only an average-to-bad mom when it comes to language).  Most firings occur on Fridays, too.  And Friday is the last day of freedom for stay-at-home moms.  So Friday can be good because Friday = weekend = staying up late, sleeping in, all-around party time, but it can also be bad because Friday = failure and job loss = destroyed dreams and general devastation.   Basically Friday is the guy in high school you had a crush on and who asked you out, thus making your life awesome, but he was probably going to dump you before prom.

My daughter says that the best way to get through a tough week is to be positive every single day and to see everything as fun because it will make the week go faster, because haven’t you ever heard of the saying “Time flies when you’re having fun?”

And despite my son’s and my sort of combined general dreariness, we had to admit that she might be onto something.

That and soup for dinner.  You really can’t go wrong with soup for dinner, any day of the week.