Snow Days Have Different Meanings For Parents And Kids [Video]

Waking up in the morning and looking out the window to see that the ground is now covered with inches of snow is where the thoughts of a snow day start.  Those thoughts might be sheer joy, or utter terror depending on if you are a parent or a kid.

Every single person alive can identify with the joy that the thought of a snow day brings.  It's like a get out of jail free card that means you'll be able to do just about anything your winter heart desires.

• Sleep in under a mountain of covers
• Go sledding
• Watch The Price Is Right
• Go to work with your mom or dad
• Do NOTHING at all

It just might be the best news of your life when you wake up to the radio saying that you have a snow day!

Somewhere through the course of life this joy is lost though, and unfortunately its replaced with dread.  The phrase "Snow Day" take on an entirely different meaning to parents, and instead of enjoying the freedom, they agonize over the added responsibilities brought on.

• Find a sitter for the kids
• Drive to work on the roads that were just deemed unsafe for your kids
• Risk being in trouble at work by calling in
• WHO'S GOING TO WATCH THE KIDS ALL DAY?!

If any of you stressed out parents out there would like a piece of advice, here is my opinion.

Look at your kids.  Look at how happy they are that they don't have to go to school, and copy them.  If you have the ability to skip work that day, DO IT!  Go outside and play with your kids!  Stay in and spend the entire day with them doing absolutely NOTHING!

If you can't skip work, go in late and take time to make a big slow paced breakfast that you will all enjoy.  The reason we all work so hard every other day is so that our family will be in the best possible position.  If you bust your butt on the days that you are supposed to, very few employers will punish you for taking a day (or a few hours) off when you have to.

The point is that there are few moments that your kids will show this much happiness for free, and you should take every chance you can to be a part of it with them!

Let go of the stress of a snow day and remember the feeling you used to get as a kid!  Nobody ever wrote, "If only I hadn't missed so many days of work" in their obituary.