We were having a difficult time tonight encouraging our kids to start slowing down before bedtime. Maybe they’re still coming down off of all that Valentine’s candy (ugh), or maybe they’ve been sneaking more without me looking? Either way, we were losing ground quickly and entering “I’m about to get angry” territory.
And that’s when my Hero Husband had one of his finer ideas: Boot Camp. He explained how, when he was in Marine Corps Boot Camp, the drill instructors would have them run back and forth as fast as they could while screaming as loud as they could.
So Daddy put on his best drill instructor voice and all three bundles of energy ran frantically around the living room screaming like banshees. (I don’t even know what a banshee is…perhaps I should check on that.) For fifteen furious minutes our house was consumed with giggly, breathless, sweaty kids. Pillows were flying through the air, little bodies were hitting the couches, the noise level rose higher and higher, and our frustration level sank lower and lower until it was completely replaced with belly laughter.
And now, our 3 sweaty, probably hoarse kids are conked out in bed, and we learned that 15 minutes of Boot Camp chaos was far more enjoyable than all the peace and quiet in the world.
tommimom 
Love this! We do a girly version of Boot Camp by having crazy dance parties, so we’ll have to shake things up and do a full out scream-fest soon. 🙂
The day Micah suggests a dance party, I’ll surely die :).
What a great idea! I’m filing this one away for the future… except we’ll tell stories about Uncle Noble’s days in bootcamp, or maybe what Uncle Noble used to inflict on his poor Army bootcamp trainees (or whatever military folk call ’em).
P.S. Love your blog theme! Very fun.