DVR

Stardate 59040.6
Yelled at Rachel this morning. I hate to do that; it makes me feel as though I’ve failed. She has been staying in bed until it’s time to leave for school. The purpose it to avoid going, I know, but that’s not an option. Avoiding issues does not make them go away, and often makes them worse. I know at least part of the issues, but she won’t talk about it with me. Not yet, anyway.

We got a DVR for the satellite, so I’ve been watching more TV. April has scheduled her shows, and I added Deep Space Nine on Spike TV. I caught ‘Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges’ (In times of war, the law is silent – Cicero). It seems kind of poignant in light of the controversy over prisoners at Guantanmo Bay. This was broadcast in 1999, so it’s a good comment on how little we learn even over 2100 years. (Wikipedia reports ‘The Practice’ used it again in 2001, but that doesn’t count as much.) I also am watching The Amazing Race and Supernanny. The last is kind of interesting, albeit repetitive. Most of the shows revolve around consistent discipline and spending time with your kids. Combine this with a post by a friend of mine, Matt, about scheduling time with your family. (The comment about Matt being a Keeper was amusing to me). So I start to wonder if I should be scheduling time. The thought doesn’t sync right. Scheduled fun never seems to be all that fun. What works for me is when I am asked to play by my kids, think hard about what I am doing now before giving the kneejerk ‘no, not right now’ response. Is it all that important? Sometimes the answer is Yes, and sometimes it’s No. If it is Yes, I tell them I need to finish what I am doing now, and then I can join them. They accept that pretty well, although Patrick can annoy me with “Are you done? How much longer?” The trick is to follow through. And sometimes the answer is a flat no. That one gets used for things I just can’t do. For example, I’ve tried the trampoline with them. The problem with it is that after about 2 minutes, I am gasping for breath. It’s a good workout, but not much in the way of quality time. Another suggestion is to find a common interest. Patrick and I have a running competition to see how many baskets we can make from the edge of the driveway. Rachel likes to play horse with the hoop. Things like that I have fun with.

It snowed again this morning. I am getting tired of it. I’d like to get to work in under an hour more than once a week.

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