Over the course of the past few weeks, we've had an unusual situation happen. For whatever reason, the Wonderful Husband and I found ourselves spending a significant amount of time with one child at a time.

Kids who are getting older, more independent and self-reliant mean that we don't have to hover over every single practice or event that they're doing.It also means that their time commitments to some activities have grown, and we no longer feel the need to drag the other siblings along to every marathon swim meet, baseball game or awards ceremony.One recent weekend found me and G traveling to State College for the start of a three-day swim meet. The WH's work schedule, a playoff baseball game for A, and a gymnastic recital rehearsal for E meant that the three of them stayed home for an extra day. Later in the weekend, A and the WH had a Youth Hunter Education Challenge to attend in Scotia, so the plan was they'd meet up with us at our hotel later in the weekend.In between, I took a break from the swim meet to run E to her recital, which the WH had already viewed at rehearsal. It sounds crazy, but it magically worked out so that everyone got where they needed to be when they needed to be there, and we all got to participate in the things we love to do. We also put about a thousand miles on the cars, and it was worth it.I enjoyed the opportunity to spend some quality time with each child individually. It was fun letting them pick where we ate, or what activity we would do in our downtime. It was interesting to engage each of them in one-on-one conversation, without any other interruptions.G chose a popular wing joint full of sports memorabilia for his dinner one night, where he had the profound revelation about why the Penguins and the Flyers are such big rivals. When I told him that I thought it was probably because they wanted bragging rights as Pennsylvania's best hockey team, he told me I was wrong. It was because the Flyers can fly. And Penguins can't. And the Flyers are just rubbing it in to the Penguins.We also realized that one of the reasons we seldom eat wings as a family is because between the five of us, we can't all agree on one flavor of wings, but we're too cheap to buy five different flavors. G and I managed to split a family order of mild wings just fine.The next day ended up being the day that I spent most of the day with E. Now, E and I have had some epic girls' day outs already, so this wasn't a new phenomenon for us, but coming on the heels of a day spent with G, I became acutely aware of how different my children are. I gave both of my kids control of the iTunes while we were driving, and G's choices ran from "Weird Al" Yankovic to classic rock anthems to "What do you want to listen to, Mom?"E … Taylor Swift. And nothing but Taylor Swift for 200 miles. I'm still hearing "Shake It Off" in my sleep. E also was silent for most of the trip, her new interest in "chapter" books keeping her occupied. I didn't hear from her unless she needed to hit the rest stop.Meanwhile, A and the WH were spending the day out in the woods, doing the manly man things that they both enjoy doing. The WH got to fire up his cast-iron griddle and cook outside, one of his favorite ways to enjoy food. A was doing the actual competing and his scores in all areas greatly improved. All in all, they had a very good day, capped off by A's team earning special recognition for their sportsmanship.As we headed back to the hotel that night, with two very tired kids in the cars, to meet up with G, who had been with the rest of the swim team for the day, we called each other to plan the evening's activities. Eventually, both of us got around to admitting that we had had fun on our days out with the kids, and even floated the possibility that our kids might not be the holy terrors that they usually appear to be. There was no yelling, no fighting, no frustration. Everything had gone according to plan, with a few minor hiccups that were easily corrected. Both of us concluded that maybe we have this parenting thing down after all.Then, we arrived back at the hotel. For the first time in several days, all three kids were in the same place, at the same time, and they were tired and hungry, to boot. It took all of three seconds for a squabble over the TV remote control to erupt, and right on the heels of that, a full-scale brawl broke out over the use of the toilet. I need a hotel suite that comes with one bedroom and two bathrooms, not vice versa.In the middle of all of this was a giant pile of dirty, wet clothing from the swim meet, two piles of clothing that reeked of campfire smoke, and one leotard covered with glitter. In no time at all, it once again became clear that despite what we had previously thought, the inmates are still running the asylum!Liz Pinkey is a contributing writer to the Times News. Her column appears weekly in our Saturday feature section.