I'm really disappointed in how our Sunday turned out. We had wonderful weather, this being the first day of Fall and it feeling like it, and plans to do the Maryland Lighthouse Challenge, which I referenced yesterday. We had planned to get up early, grab breakfast at Denny's, then head towards Southern Maryland and see some lighthouses. Our first problem was getting up. After another late night, it proved to be tough to get up this morning. 9:30 a.m. wasn't too late, but the next issue was a little girl who didn't seem to want to do anything. After all the talking we did yesterday, her mood had changed and I decided not to fight the battle. So we didn't do anything. We spent the entire day inside doing nothing except watch TV.
This is just a snapshot of a bigger problem that I've seen develop over the past few months. My daughter, who is a social butterfly with her friends, has become more and more of a shut-in. She has little desire to go out and play with her friends, particularly on the weekends, and instead would rather just sit at her laptop and play games. It has gotten worse since school started, especially given the increase in homework which takes her 2 to 3 hours each night, leaving her little time to play anyway. But I'm not going to blame her teachers for this. She just has little desire to do anything. That lack of desire, coupled with my own battle with depression which keeps me from doing things, has resulted in both of us not wanting to get out and do things.
I've tried to fight through this by actually planning things for us to do on the weekends, such as the Geocaching adventure last weekend, and the Lighthouse Challenge for this week, but when my daughter shows little desire to follow through, it doesn't take much to convince me to call it quits, as well. So between the two of us, we're really struggling. Being away all week on business didn't help.
One thing that might help is something my church has coming up on Wednesday evenings for girls my daughter's age. It's an activity night with games and fun, and may turn out to be just what the doctor ordered. As long as she's able to balance her homework with this activity night, it can only be good for her.
With the change in weather, and I absolutely love the cooler weather that comes with Fall, I want to be out doing things, whether my daughter wants to or not, not that I want to create a needless battle with her, but because we need to be doing things like this, today notwithstanding.
So what's on the agenda for next week? I have no idea. At least, not yet. But you can bet, if the weather is decent, I am not going to spend another weekend inside doing nothing. Look for us outside somewhere.
Have a great upcoming week, everybody!
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