Life can be expensive. Being a parent can be very expensive! There are some aspects we can’t control but we may have more choice around the amount and way we spend than we think (and admittedly some people may not) and a lot of it is related to our mindset.

To me, Family Pastimes Co-operative Games are the Great Canadian Board Games! That isn’t the company slogan but they are such creatively, thoughtfully developed games that it’s what comes to mind. I admire the fact that they were inspired by a real life parenting moment.

I heard the librarian announce over the speaker that the library was closing for the evening in fifteen minutes. Perfect. I needed to pick my daughter up from choir in ten minutes, they are rarely finished right on time to the minute anyway and it was about a five minute drive over. I’d head out to the car and have a few minutes to spare … except when I stepped outside, I realized the snow had begun again and I had some clearing to do.

I carried two heavy bags of food toward the upstairs church kitchen with L close behind me, carrying three. We were setting up in a kitchen and Rec room area for her choir weekend workshop and were bringing the food and supplies in from the car. We were early and there was a Family Fun Night still happening at the church as we set up. Everyone, adults and kids alike, were in costume.

I suddenly realized I was shifting my weight impatiently from foot to foot. Although my face was smiling, my body language was probably showing that I was ready to go. I was paying for my items at the small grocery store up the street from my house.

The young girl from next door suddenly went soaring by on her bicycle the other evening as I watered plants on my porch.

We have just gotten back from a fantastic camping trip at Bon Echo Provincial Park, spending a fun-filled three days with cousins.

Over the years, we have done doodling books, origami, mazes, math puzzles, sticker books, jigsaw puzzles, joke books, knowledge quiz cards and wipe-clean cards …

I know. There is a lot of conversation about screen time. From warnings about too much television and screens for young children to video game, cell phone and computer use for older kids and teens, it’s a big topic and I guess there are many different ways to look at it.

When I was maybe about six or seven years old, I drew and cut out a Santa Claus for the Christmas tree from construction paper.

“I hope we don’t get shot tonight while we’re at the movies.” As I navigated a left-hand turn onto a busy street in early evening traffic, the unexpected words came suddenly, yet calmly, from my then 13 year old daughter’s mouth. Pardon ?!!!

When kids are young, everything is fresh and exciting for them! Going to the grocery store is an event, watching the clouds and imagining what they look like is a blast and well, who hasn’t had the experience of a young child sitting on one of those mall rides, unaware that that it moves if you put money in it – grinning and loving just being on it?

When my daughter was an infant, she would sit in her bright yellow Bumbo seat in the middle of the table while I made dinner beside her. Sometimes an older brother would have a dot-to-dot on the go or be drawing or writing one thing or another.

As I drove home early late one afternoon a few weeks ago, I heard a curious comment on the radio. The DJ was chatting between songs and said something to the effect that in a recent poll, an enormous number of parents (I can’t remember the exact percentage, but it was pretty overwhelming) had indicated that summer holidays were a huge stress and that if they could, they would choose to forgo them in favour the kids staying in school for the summer.