I told my kids (ds7 and dd6) that today they have to be children of the 80's. They asked what that meant, and I said you have to be a child like I was. And they asked what that meant. I said, today is a beautiful day (75-80, no humidity, sunny) and we have company coming this weekend, so I have to clean the house, do laundry, prepare food. On a day like this, when I was a kid in the 80's my mom would say "Go outside, and leave me alone. It is not my responsibility to play with you today, to make sure you are occupied or having a good time. You will amuse yourself, all day, outside. I will feed you lunch, outside, and that is it. You may come in to get anything you want and take it outside, but remember at the end of the day, you have to bring whatever you took outside back inside and put it away. But today, it is not my job to amuse you, it is my job to get this house ready for the company that is coming in to see you. The one requirement is that you stay in our backyard, frontyard, or woods behind our house (that was different from when I was a kid, my mom didn't care if I roamed the neighborhood, as long as I was back by dinner)"
Now, I realize some may think I'm a terrible mom for choosing cleaning my house over playing with my kids. But let me just say it is Thursday, on Monday I took them to the local water park all day, on Tuesday we went to the pool all day and then I took them to watch their friend at her swim meet that night, on Wednesday I took them to lunch and then out so my dd could buy a webkin and my ds could by a video game (they had both saved up their own money). And this Friday, Saturday and Sunday the grandparents will be in, and when they are here it is all about spoiling the grandkids 24/7 (which is how it sould be).
So today I am making my kids play outside on a beautiful day and use their imagination, while I clean the house. No Xbox, TV or computer games. They are going to see what it was like when I was a kid, and today, I am going to be like my mother, whom at times I thought was the worst mom, but now I can look back and realize she really wasn't all that bad!!