When I’m on vacation, we try to ensure that Melanie gets a vacation too. The Boston Globe on Monday had a story about employee vacation time and how 70 percent of people don’t take all their alloted vacation time each year. Various reasons are cited, including the desire not to be seen as a slacker, a lack of funds to go on trips, and the fact that today, even when you’re on vacation you often spend time answering emails or checking in to work.
That’s certainly true for me because even though I’m off, someone still needs to maintain and oversee the social media accounts I’m responsible for, as well as post the unexpected things that come up. Even so, I try to put off as much work as possible in order to truly have some downtime.
Unfortunately for Melanie, as a stay-at-home mom, it’s easy for her need for vacation to get overlooked. She’s at home with the kids every day, and having me here too can either be a help or more of a burden, depending on how we handle it.
To that end, I try to make sure that she gets some time here and there, a half day or the like, when she can go out, either alone (which is less likely right now because of the nursing one-year-old) or with one or two of the older children. It’s important that she gets a break too, because while it’s my vacation as an employee benefit, it’s our vacation as a need to relax and take a break.
On our Christmas vacation this year, I went to see the new Hobbit movie by myself (see the previous post on that); we went to midnight Mass on Christmas eve as a family despite the Easter Vigil Disaster of 2013; visited with my brother’s family and my dad on Christmas; went to the Museum of Science in Boston where Melanie and the older girls got to watch the IMAX movie “Jerusalem” while I stayed with the boys and Lucy in the cafeteria; bounced around the house cooking and watching movies; sent Melanie and the girls to the mall to go shopping for First Communion dresses; started reading The Hobbit aloud to the kids, and looked forward to visiting with my sister and her baby born just a couple days before Christmas. All in all, a fun, relaxing vacation.
Sounds like you are a wonderful husband:). I love Melanie’s blog. Her style of parenting and homeschooling is so refreshing. Your children are incredibly smart, especially Bella. I show her blog to my daughter as she will homeschool our 3 year old granddaughter next year. I want her exposed to all the. History and art Melanie uses with Bella. The results are just incredible!!
Blessings
Kim Chrisman