A whopper of a weekend and the goody bag plan

It's Monday and I'm relieved. By now I'm used to crazy weekends but this one was unusually so.

The husband was supposed to be home after about a month but had to cancel at the last moment. The kids were sorely disappointed and I was saddled with two very sulky kids over three very long days of an extended weekend. To make matters worse N had loads of pending homework from some classes she had missed. 


The goody bag plan 

We decided to tackle the biggest demon first - a bunch of over 50 math problems to be done in a day. Wondering how to get through it all without bringing out the witch in me I brought out the goody-bag plan. I think I defied all perfect parenting mantras by linking reward directly to performance but desperate times asked for desperate measures. 


I picked up some inexpensive goodies - chocolates, craft supplies, stationery items and put them all into a bag. I felt I was running short and so I also made out some coupons which could be 'encashed' for things ranging from a hug to a doughnut. After every five sums I'd let N dip into it and pick a goody. It proved to be SUCH a success that even H gave up his iPad and sat down to race N over those sums just so he could have a go at the goodies.

N had a great time feeling around in the bag trying to guess what there was and offering to pick out things for H. 

And then some more..


That was Friday and it went pretty well. Here's what we crammed into the next two days:

- Dropped in at Mc Donald for a Happy Meal. Why they still like it is beyond me - they're not too keen on the food and have far outgrown those toys, yet.... 
- Had a tiny pizza party at home 
- Made pani puri together. N has developed a huge liking for it and I'm quite thrilled to have a PP partner.
- Went out to a dosa joint one night where the kids enjoy watching how multiple dosas are made simultaneously, more than actually eating them. 
- Then we dragged out mattresses into the living room and had a sleepover with just the three of us.
- And we also managed to work on some school projects.




Now that I've got all that down I realise a lot of our happiness stems from food and I'm not even a decent enough cook! Wierd? Ironical? What?

I'm beyond analyses, though. I won't say it wasn't fun but it really would be simpler to have The Husband home. Sigh!

So what do you do to tide over difficult times with kids? Long holidays, disappointments? I'd love some help here.

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