Responsible Kids

It might surprise you to know that Craig and I haven't taken a trip alone together in...um, a few years?  I think the last time was when we went to Hawaii in January 2011.  And you might also be surprised to know that we've never left our kids home by themselves...not even overnight.  

So our trip to Utah last weekend was a pretty big deal.  

Mostly, I was really excited about it the entire three months that we planned it...until about 24 hours before I left.

There's no logical reason for me not to love packing, but I really just don't.  Too many decisions.  Too hard to choose just a few things to bring.  I procrastinated until the last possible minute, and then had to leave for the longest DMCO rehearsal ever in the history of rehearsals.  Which meant that I had a lot left to do when I got home at 10:45 Thursday night.

I divided up the absolute necessities for the weekend and put one child in charge of each category.  Savannah was in charge of the schedule and transportation.  

Megan was in charge of food...

Emma was in charge of trash and Family Prayer.  And McKay was in charge of security and feeding Fishy.

But I let them all know ahead of time that the only expectation I had for their weekend was that they all still be alive at the end of it.  I told them no one was in charge; they just needed to be responsible for themselves.  I told them not to worry about chores, or getting to bed on time, or even watching General Conference.  I left all that stuff entirely up to them.  

And guess what...not only were they alive when we came home...they were happy.  Not only was my house still standing...it was cleaner than I had left it at 4:00 Friday morning. 

Savannah found a game on Pinterest so that Conference would be more fun to watch.  Everyone made it to all their activities on Saturday.  They ate decent food.  They took their jobs seriously.  They had a giant sleepover in the TV room because they watched the entire 3rd season of Monk together on Friday night.  Craig and I got exactly ZERO texts from distressed or arguing siblings.  Our neighbors didn't have to rescue anyone.  And the kids all missed us so much that they haven't left our sides since we got home Monday afternoon.     

It's such a relief to know that our kids do better on their own than they do with us here.  We had a great long weekend in Utah, and now that we know how capable our children are, we may have to fly around on a few more adventures in the future.