The Best and the Worst

A friend of mine who reads the blog must have read the post I wrote about the special journals I started keeping with the kids, because as I was leaving swim practice last night she pulled me aside and she said to me, “If you want a way to connect with the kids, try sharing the best thing/worst thing about your day. I do that every night with my  kids at the dinner table.”

I was just getting ready to tell her how we never  have the opportunity to sit down as a family around the dinner table druing the week, and she said, “You can do it in the car on the way home.  You share first, then pick another kid to share, and then they get to pick the next kid. They might think it’s lame at first, but now if we don’t do it, they are sure to remind me.”

I had heard of this before, but it never occurred to me to try it in a place other than the dinner table.

So as I drove home from practice with Number 3 through 7 in the car, I shared my best and worst moments of the day.

Number  4, 5, and 6 were especially enthusiastic.

“The best part of my day was  going to school because it was fun, and the worst part of my day was spilling my cup of beads all over the ground,” said Number 6, and then he picked number  5.

“The best part of my day was making monkey bread in cooking class after school, and the worst part of my day was saying goodbye to Mom,” (brownie points for Number 5) and then she picked Number 4.

“The best part of my day was going to the talent show rehearsal and the worst part of my day was forgetting to bring my saxophone to school,” said Number 4 , and then she picked Number 7.

I gave Number 7 a talking-to a few minutes earlier for stealing some of Number 4’s lemonade stand candy out of the back of the car, so she boycotted the whole thing and took a vow of silence.

“Okay Number 3,” I said.

“The best part of my day will be going to bed tonight and the worst part of my day is doing this stupid thing and I pick that squirrel in the woods to go next.”

Clearly Number 3 thought this was just as uncool as the journal idea.

On Tuesday nights my parents come up to the house so I don’t have to drag the whole crew to swim practice, so on the ride home tonight, it was just Number 3 and 4 and me.

Number 4 had her headphones in listening to the song she’s going to sing at the talent show, so I said to Number 3, “What was the best and worst part of your day?”

He rolled his eyes a little bit and then he said, “the best part of my day was Activity period and the worst part of my day was taking the DRP.”

Activity period is for the kids who aren’t in band or chorus. You get to pick an activity to do while all those kids go to practice.

I realized I had no idea what the hell Number 3 even did in Activity period. So I asked him.

He told me he picked Classic TV Shows.

Every day during activity period they watch a classic show.

They’ve watched Little House on the Prairie and I Love Lucy and today they watched Bewitched.

That’s so cool!

And Number 3 and I had a fun conversation about how I used to watch all those shows when I was a kid.

It wasn’t just a trip down memory lane for me, but it really was a nice couple minutes of a connection for the two of us.

So what was the worst part of my day?

It was bringing Number 7 in for her kindergarten screening because I just don’t want to face the reality of her going to elementary school.

And what was the best part?

The  best part was that little conversation with Number 3 in the car on the ride home from swim practice.

Thank you for planting that seed last night, Miss P.

You gave my family a pretty special gift last night.

Please keep voting!