The Best Day Ever [and a recipe for Apple + Oat Bread]

Oct. 30

“This is the best day ever!”

My kids have taken to shouting that hyperbolic statement nearly any time they do something they enjoy. Eating ice cream, riding bikes, going to a friend’s house—these all apparently deserve the title of “best day ever.”

The pendulum swings just as far in the other direction, of course. There are about a hundred activities that can cause them to declare any given day the worst ever—eating cooked carrots, having to clean their rooms, not being allowed to play with the hose at 8am when it’s 50 degrees outside, wearing shoes that fit. Who knew that last one could so easily result in a three-year-old naming an otherwise normal Thursday “the worst day ever.”

Despite their exaggerations and how quickly one day can flip from worst to best or vice versa, I’ve noticed a theme. The best days, according to my children, are usually quite ordinary.

Maybe I’ve set the bar low from the start, so they don’t expect elaborate Pinterest activities, expensive toys, or exotic outings—especially in 2020 when we’re home almost all the time. We’re homebodies, anyway, and I’ve burned myself out enough in my life to know how much I hate running frantically from one activity to another. So we play with chalk, we ride bikes, we go to the park down the street, we meet up with a friend, we make cookies, we have movie nights.

None of it is all that creative.

Continue reading at Coffee + Crumbs.