19/10/2026
Today I allowed my children to waste an entire afternoon. 😂
Well, that's probably what it looked like anyway.
This morning the girls spent three hours planting dahlias, and Gracie also took the dog for a 5km walk.
After lunch, everyone seemed to just stop for the day.
Gracie picked up a book she's already read about five times, Milly decided to do a colouring competition for Mitre 10 probably aimed more at little kids, and the animals made themselves comfortable.
Not exactly a productive afternoon.
Or was it?
While Milly was colouring, we were chatting about her Letters to Grandma Moa project and how to deal with the cost of postage.
Gracie, meanwhile, was quietly encouraging the dog and cat to get a little more comfortable with each other.
And it made me think about how much goes on when it looks like children aren't really doing anything.
(Actually, this is a big thing at the moment with me too as I sit here on social media looking like I'm scrolling but actually I am 'working' on this page! More on this later.)
I think sometimes we're so busy trying to make sure they're learning, achieving or doing something worthwhile that we forget they need time to just potter about and do their own thing.
Time to think. To imagine. To get bored. To come up with their own ideas.
And sometimes to do absolutely nothing, without us feeling the need to justify it as educational!
These girls know how to work hard. But they're also pretty good at knowing when they've had enough and need a break. Key is to trust that.
Perhaps we don't always need to be finding things for our children to do. Perhaps we need to give them more time to work that out for themselves.
Do you think we've become a bit too obsessed with keeping children busy?
Anyway, Gracie seems to be making progress with the dog and cat. I'm hoping she'll have them cuddling by Christmas. 😂❤️
