Family Life

Home, sweet home! We’re back again, after a mere 11 hours on the road today. There were less hold-ups along the way than on Friday, so our trip home was shorter by two hours. I had been worried about how the kids would deal with such a long trip, but I needn’t have been so concerned. Daniel and Joel, who can carry a conversation, were fine. Micah, who can’t, wailed when he was hungry or needed changing. That happened quite a lot over the course of a 13- or 11-hour trip, as you can imagine. On the highway out in the country there were limited opportunities to exit and park where Micah could be fed, and where the other two boys could be taken care of. So Micah provided background vocals from time to time. This distressed Debbie, but the rest of us managed to ignore the noise, heartless males that we were.

Daniel and Joel had a wonderful trip. They had their parents’ undivided attention for hours on end. We were a captive audience: we couldn’t leave. The boys chatted incessantly the whole way, acting like a relay team. One would sleep while the other would chat. Then the sleeper would awaken, start to chat, and his counterpart would quieten down and go to sleep. Joel has started his “Why?” stage, and the never-ending succession of whys can try his parents’ patience.

We stopped at McDonald’s play centres along the way, ate lunches at rest stop picnic tables, talked about road construction and road kill, sang songs, played games, and drove and drove.

It’s hard work caring for small children at the best of times, in the comfort and convenience of home. It’s ultra, extra hard work when on a long trip, at truck stops, gas stations, hotels. Deciding when, what and where to feed them, allowing for frequent toilet breaks, making sure they get enough rest in unfamiliar surroundings, keeping them entertained so things don’t degenerate into utter misery. It stretches parents’ creativity, patience and endurance to the limit. After this weekend, I seriously question the wisdom of repeating anything like this anytime soon. But I chatted to Daniel as he was getting ready for bed, and I realized that for him it was a truly enjoyable trip. While I could only think about the frustrations and annoyances I’d had to endure, he talked about the highlights, the fun, the memorable and good parts. It was a different perspective that improved my disposition. Maybe kids are good for the soul after all.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 28th, 2007 at 11:32 pm. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.