Friday, September 26, 2008

"I' Think I've Made A Huge Mistake" - Arrested Development

We laugh at this TV quote and say it from time to time whenever we've made an 'oops.'

Well, today I think I made a $50 mistake and in this crappy economy, that's pretty huge (for us anyway!)

What kind of mistake, you ask? Well, let me tell you!

Being the awesome homeschool Mom that I am (ha), and knowing my kids don't want any extra 'schoolwork' than we already have, I had to get creative with the way I approached the addition of a more rigorous "physical education" than just playing volleyball or basketball in the yard. So I figured I could get them excited about our first level of structured, yet family/home exercise by offering a goal incentive.

So I had a school meeting and told them we would be starting a walk/jog activity at least 3 times per school week. Knowing how dreadful this is to the kids (because I've tried before) i told them that whoever is first able to jog our entire path (over a mile but not exactly sure of the distance) I would pay them fifty dollars cash! Being the money hungry kiddos that they are, they ran to put on their socks and tennies! Before we got out the door, I had to explain that this would take them a long while to accomplish and that speed was not the goal...just endurance. I told them this was a long-term goal and that it was designed to give us something to work for during the coming months.

Little did I know I might be out the fifty bucks on our first day! ACK!

Thankfully, there was some BARELY slowing down at the end that I was able to NOT have to pay today BUT, Indie & Rocky almost (pretty much) made it! And Ray was VERY VERY close to making it, too! I could NOT believe it! WHO ARE THESE CHILDREN? I struggle to believe they share my DNA. I have never, and I mean NEVER had any sort of endurance. Not in elementary school. Not in Jr. High school. Not in high school. And certainly not in college, when I actually took a running class to get in shape for my wedding. NEVER was I able to run the entire length of the class. Never.

Ugh. I'm proud of them but, DANG, couldn't they have given me a chance to actually budget this "bright" idea of mine?

3 comments:

Jenny said...

I'm an awful runner but I would try to get that fifty! :)

Steph said...

I'd pay $50 to NOT have to run! Seriously.

Yeah, it cracks me up that Ricky Bobby as quite the runner in his heyday. He's losing his competitive edge though as he gets older... that's my boy!

Steph said...

I guess we all figured out that my comment should have read "Yeah, it cracks me up that Ricky Bobby WAS quite the runner in his heyday."