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Saturday, March 19, 2011

Date Night

Both my husband and I make a point to take each child out on 'dates'. Whether that is a full fledge evening out or trip to get dessert, we make a point to get one on one time with each of them. At times with four this can be a bit challenging, but is always rewarding. This evening though is a first for date night with three minus our kiddo with RAD. This past week has been rough. The kids have been out of school for Spring Break, and because we just took a family vacation last month we decided to stay home and be lazy this week. The lazy part-staying in pj's, reading books, rarely leaving the house has been wonderful. The 24/7 time with the stick poking queen....well not so nice. I have tried to be the most therapeutic parent as possible, to help her stay in control, to shrink her world, kept her by my side (literally) all week. Dad took off work yesterday afternoon to take us out to lunch and spend the afternoon bowling (all the kids had asked to do this spring break). Apparently this little family fun afternoon was just enough to send her over the edge. Friday night and today have just been no fun at all. She has spent most of her time trying to hurt me-in some fashion or another. Our other three have been in shock and are angry their sibling has thrown things at mom and are pretty much done with the rudeness and disrespect.
So tonight we asked a friend who has been beyond helpful/understanding to keep her while we have a date night with our other three. To my surprise the other three were a bit torn. They were excited to be getting a break, but really struggle with leaving a sibling out. Makes my heart happy to know that even though she is driving them crazy, they are frustrated with her, they are tired of being poked with a stick....they love her, want her to join in the family date night, and are sad she is missing out. Amazing our children our, all of them.

UPDATE: We had a wonderful time! So did she. We kept her very close today and even had some one on one time with just her and Mom and Dad.

1 comment:

  1. Good for you! It sounds like you all needed the break! It is great that your other children missed her-- but what a wonderful lesson for all of them! They get a night out, they learn about taking care of themselves and taking a break from the hard stuff. Your daughter learns that if she can't behave like part of the family she might miss out sometimes. I hope it went well, that you all had fun, and that you do not get too much payback today.

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