{"id":100505,"date":"2025-05-21T07:27:59","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T11:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/?p=100505"},"modified":"2025-05-22T23:16:50","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T03:16:50","slug":"mastering-the-midday-reset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/mastering-the-midday-reset\/","title":{"rendered":"Mastering the Midday Reset"},"content":{"rendered":"

One thing I’ve learned with homeschooling for 8 years now, and honestly just with parenting for 13.5 years now, is that if a day is feeling sour, I (as mom) have the ability to keep it going in that direction or<\/strong> put forth a little energy and good attitude to change it around for all of us.<\/p>\n

I’ll be honest, I don’t always choose option number two because there are times I’m in a mood too, darn it, and why is it up to me to fix it for everyone else’s sour moods?! But sometimes I’m in the right headspace to be the light that I pray to try and be. Yesterday was one such instance.<\/p>\n

Remember how I giddily proclaimed how my kids thought IOWA testing was so much fun? How they asked to do more and I just knew it was because I was doing all the parenting things right? (I’m kidding about that second part, but still, I got quite the kick out of their enthusiasm for standardized testing).<\/p>\n

Well<\/em>… day two of testing was different. Maybe it’s because they had a pet sitting job they had to wake up early for. Or maybe the math section was wordier than they desired. Or maybe the “extreme” (according to the internet) tree pollen induced sneezes were making them grumpy (valid). Whatever the reason, I found myself in the middle of some seriously sour attitudes. <\/p>\n

We had testing to check off though, so we persevered. In the little breaks between sessions I got outside to roll my eyes in peace and keep my own spirits in check. I harvested a big bunch of cilantro from the garden for dinner and that certainly helped! I used to it make cilantro lime rice<\/a> in the rice cooker.<\/p>\n

\"harvested<\/p>\n

\"making<\/p>\n

Mastering the Midday Reset<\/h2>\n

As we finished up our testing midday and the girls took off for their next pet sitting appointment, I decided I was going to turn our day around. There are a few things I’ve found that can help reverse the moody course for my big kids\/tweens\/young teens:<\/p>\n