Get Up and Do Something

So I know I posted a few weeks ago about feeling irritable and guilty and overwhelmed. The other day I realized that another reason for the feeling was the fact that I have gotten into the habit of avoiding doing pretty much everything besides the basics of cooking, laundry, and general kid maintenance. You would think that avoiding difficult things would make you feel better, but instead I had been feeling steadily worse. So the other day I finally started cleaning up and organizing many of the giant piles of stuff sitting around my house. And on Saturday Mr. Fob and I deep cleaned the house as well. Guess what? I feel a lot better. Tonight instead of watching TV I went and ran a few errands that are more pleasant without kids, including a trip to the library to pick up some books. It feels much better to have some productivity in my life.

I also decided to start a project that I've been thinking about for a while. We are going to spend the next year or so learning about different countries in the world, focusing on one a week. I picked Wednesday night to be our special meal night, plus I'm checking some kids books out from the library about each country and if we can find a family-friendly movie about it then we'll watch it on Friday for our usual movie night. I'm partly doing this because I want my kids to learn more about the world around them (and sadly geography is not taught very much these days in school) and partly because I like researching and learning about other places. I put this off for a while because I was trying to figure out the logistics and because I felt self-conscious about the implications of it. Trying to narrow down a list of 5o countries to focus on was surprisingly hard and I felt guilt for cutting out some of them. I've also been worried about the kitsch factor. I realize, though, that our kids are still quite young and this is only the beginning. If the most they learn is that there are people all over the world who eat different foods and have different flags, that's fine for this point in their lives. This week we're doing Afghanistan and I'm excited to try cooking some beef kebabs on Wednesday night. I don't think we're going to watch The Kite Runner for family movie night though.

Comments

Kristi said…
Your project is super cool. I think I'm going to steal it someday. I'd be curious to see what you make and watch - are you going to keep us posted weekly?

I'm always amazed at how much better I feel about life if I can get something done during the day, or have at least one clean room where I can retreat and not feel bombarded by clutter (and guilt that it's cluttered).
Earth Sign Mama said…
Mmmm...I have a series of books about many diferent countries that are of current vintage. Send me your list and I may be able to loan you some relevant books. I sneak geography in constantly because it isn't explicitly taught too much. You know how I love map stuff.
Katya said…
You might also find some good picture books to help illustrate various aspects of different countries at an age-appropriate level. (I read a couple of good ones recently, one about a boy who goes to visit his grandfather in Iran and one about the first day of school in various countries around the world.)
M said…
Can I get your list too?? I love the idea. You're a great mom. :-)
Julie said…
You are absolutely right about feeling better when you are productive!! I have also found the more time I spend on the computer the worse I feel.
I so needed to hear this. Your first paragraph is my life right now verbatim. I mean, before realizing that I need to get off my duff . . .
Melyngoch said…
Wanna adopt me? I almost never throw tantrums anymore.
brinestone said…
I really want to do this! My kids are younger than yours, but I think they'd get at least a little out of it. Also, it doesn't sound like SO much work that I couldn't just do it again each year. The hard part will be finding the recipes, I imagine. I'd love to see some of your research, as well as your country list.
Jill said…
When I was home from college one Christmas, my dad decided to do cultural days. Each day we would pick a different country to explore and we would go to their museum and eat at one of the restaurants afterwards. I'm from Chicago, so there were lots of options.

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