Duvet days.
Imagine the joy of a whole day just spent relaxing, slobbing into the soft, squishy loveliness, of your sofa. Legs curled at a slight angle, one of your offspring, snuggled close against your body. The sheer blissful pleasure, associated with knowing you have no where to be, no things to be doing, other than enjoying this time, with your offspring. The quilt, as quilts tend to be, is a snuggly haven of delight, added to your sofa, and you’ll create a decadent experience, of utter pleasure.
A duvet day, is a day of relaxing, chilling out together, as your nearest and hopefully dearest, lay drapped upon the furniture. We go for the full lazy factor, tending to just watch t.v, for most of the day. When they were younger, Mr Disney featured quite high on their viewing choice, but these days, the offspring tend to do themed viewing days. Dr Who, Harry Potter, Sherlock and Jonathan Creek, have been recent view fests.
Aude, my middle offspring, quite enjoys watching things repetitively. As part of an exercise in an English class at school, they once watched an episode of ‘Are you being served?’ ( why I have no idea!) so she was quite interested in watching more, of this 1970′s BBC sit com. Unfortunately, my mum had the whole of the many, many series, on DVD and kindly lent them to her. Aude has Asperger’s and sometimes comedy is difficult for her to follow, but she enjoyed the show, so we spent one rainy, miserable day, during the school holidays, watching one after another, into the early hours of the morning, trapped in Grace Brothers Department Store. For weeks after, I was even dreaming the catch phrases, in my sleep. The whole family was sucked into watching them. I had to make a conscious effort, not to turn into Mrs Slocombe, when referring to the cat. The catch phrases became part of our family banter for weeks afterwards.
I don’t advocate that you follow our example, of an “Are you being served?” duvet day, nor take it to such extremes, but there are advantages to be gained, from having the occasional day of utter relaxation, with your offspring. I will confess to being one of those parents, who like my children to be busy. They have attended so many different groups or activities, during their childhood, that I’d feel a bit guilty listing them. This isn’t because I’m a pushy parent, trying to cram every available opportunity, with valuable educational experience, but because I am quite an active person, I like to be busy. So, feeling as though I had to give my offspring, every opportunity that I could, our family planner has always been filled, to near bursting point. But sometimes, children need the chance to come off that hamster wheel of life. To just relax and recharge. That’s when a duvet day, or slob day, as they are known in our house, comes into play.
A day to relax and do nothing much, staying on the sofa watching DVD’s or rubbish t.v. It gives you a chance to recover from busy lives, an opportunity to vegetate, doing nothing much, which sometimes we need to do, so that we can seek a little bit of sanctuary, from the stresses and strains of life.
Even young children can lead an exhausting, busy life. When they start school, there is pressure to conform, the workload, the expectations, it’s all an exhausting business sometimes. Added to that, any after school activities, and they are kept busy, without ever really getting the chance, to mentally switch off, zombify themselves and recharge their batteries. Secondary age, its workload, tests, exams, pressure of being a teenager and the intricacies of teenage existence, plus, they are really on a different time scale to others. My daughter has Asperger’s and home is perhaps the only place, she can feel comfortable being the true version, of herself. At school she tries to blend in, as well as she can, having to be aware of her ASD traits and adapt constantly. This is very mentally challenging, as well as physically draining, so to have a day, every now and then, when she can be herself, not having to concentrate on working out other people, what they might mean, want, say, expect from her, is her refuge from a difficult world.
Duvet day foods should be indulgent, I’m a fan of hot chocolate, added extras, if you are that way inclined. Plenty of snacks help with the t.v viewing experience, I find. Duvet days shouldn’t just be for times of illness, nor seen as lazy parenting. Snuggling together, wrapped in fleecy blankets or quilts, staring google eyed at the t.v, is a vital skill to teach your offspring, before they reach adulthood. You are teaching them, that it is important to make time to relax, providing them with valuable knowledge, about popular culture, t.v theme music and catch phrases from 1970′s BBC sit coms and that chocolate biscuits, seem to disappear really quickly, when other family members are present in the same room.