It’s 5 o’clock in the morning, and you hear the annoying sound of the alarm clock chirping nearby - reminding you that it’s time to wake up and start your day. You stumble to the coffee pot, get it set to start brewing, and begin packing your children’s lunches. By 5:15, you’re ready to jump in the shower, pick out your clothes for the day, and get dressed.
At 6 o’clock, you wake up the kids and rush them to get ready for school. You make sure their clothes match, they eat a healthy breakfast, and brush their teeth and hair. They finish getting ready for school in record time, and are allowed to watch the morning-time cartoons before you need to drive them to school.
By 7 o’clock in the morning, you are hustling the kids into the car, driving them to school, then setting off to work yourself. You spend the next 4 hours filing reports, shuffling papers, sitting in business meetings, and listening to your co-workers complain about this and that. At lunch time, you take your hour break in the breakroom, eat your sandwich, and socialize with some friends you have made at work. Then you’re back to the same old grind of filing reports, shuffling papers, and participating in meetings before it’s time to go home.
On your way home, you pick up the kids from school, listen to their stories about their day and how so-and-so teacher is “just so mean”. Once you arrive home with the kids, you shuffle them off to their rooms to start on their homework while you pick up around the house and prepare dinner.
After dinner, you take your son to football practice, your oldest daughter to basketball practice, and your youngest son to T-ball practice. After all the kids practices are complete, you rush them home, have them shower and get ready for bed, since it is already nearly 8:30 at night.
Finally 10 o’clock rolls around, and your children are fast asleep. Your husband is in his study finishing up some last minute paperwork, and you have a few minutes of quiet time for yourself. You could read, but you fear you may fall asleep in the chair you’re sitting in, so instead, what else could you do? You spot the crossword puzzle book sitting on your coffee table. Picking it up and beginning to fill in the first few answers, you begin to relax from your high-speed, stressful day. You feel the tension muscles relax, and your mind is reeling with information flowing in as you try to fill in each and every answer to all of the clues in the puzzle.
There are many households all over the world with experiences like this one - where at the end of the day you simply want to relax and find something enjoyable to do right before bed, when the house and kids are quiet. One great option that you, too, could enjoy at the end of your long day is solving a crossword puzzle! You may find it surprising how relaxing this activity can be, and may even learn a new word or phrase at the same time! We encourage you to spend a few minutes every day completing a crossword puzzle.
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