The first few weeks of summer are always so hard. First of all, my kids think that everyday should be a huge event like going to the movies, sleep overs with friends, ordering pizza, have a huge water fight with a zillion people, eating out at restaurants and then going for ice cream at Cold Stone. They also get feisty and mean to each other and forget how to get along 24/7. I swear they are nicer to their friends than each other. After about two weeks I had had ENOUGH. I had to put a stop to that. It was madness I tell you. I was always saying "NO, sorry, you can't go there or spend that". Then we played the "Well, you let (fill in child's name) go (fill in the blank) yesterday!" game.

Finally, I sat all of my kids down and explained the National economy and then the Woods Household economy... both fluctuate daily. Then I told my kids that we were going to have a "Family Shut In." We were all going to spend the entire day home -no friends or cell phones! They were to be home and be nice to each other, or else!  It was quiet at first and everyone was basically sitting on the couch out but after a while I heard massive fits of laughter and my kids were being nice to each other again. It was a very peacful day. That was my favorite day of summer and we are going to "shut ourselves in" often. Especially because it is free!