Let Them Be Kids

Yesterday I talked about having a routine, and positive outlook, and staying busy to get through your Monday and get your week started off right. And all of that is so true...but I wanted to add something to that today that I learned yesterday. If I'm not careful, more often than not all of our "busy" plans are centered around our adult life requirements, and not the kids being kids. Don't get me wrong, they are spoiled silly, but they don't run this house. With having 3 small kids nonstop, we've learned that anything we want to do on our time, they will pretty much get drug around to do with us. We do have the occasional sitter, or date nights, but for the most part it's me, my husband, and 3 or 4 kids.

I feel safe in saying that we have mastered having them participate in our adult world, but sometimes I feel guilty when we run all "adult" errands and then just head home, or if we're too busy on a certain day to fit in our friends or a park. Do we have plenty of days that are solely centered around the kids? Yes. Trips to the zoo, McDonald's for dinner, and anything fun we can find to do. And those day's are valued, but they're also planned and expected. I literally try once a week to fit a "kid" day into my schedule. Right along with buying groceries, getting the car washed, and doctors appointments. There it is in black and white in my planner, "Do Something For The Kids".

But how is that truly letting them be kids? "Fun" kid time is not a scheduled event, it's a natural thing that just happens. So yesterday as the kids were in their Mother's Day Out program and my husband had a day off, we ran all of our adult errands together. Towards the end of the day we took our new Dodge Charger to get it's windows tinted. It was then that I found myself dropping him off at work for an hour, picking up the kids from school, and needing to stay in town for a long enough amount of time to pick him and the Charger back up before making the drive back home. 

I didn't have this part of my day planned. Typically, no matter the day, we go straight home after their school. I didn't even have an extra diaper for Jonas with me. But there I was in the minivan, listening to Blue's Clues play on the DVD system and fielding questions like, "Where's dad?", "What are we gonna go do?", "I'm hungry!" (Okay, that last one's not REALLY a question, but it's pretty much implied as a parent, 'I'm hungry, so what are you gonna do about it?') 

So I started to drive, and I wound up in the shopping center across the street from my husband's work, and in this shopping center there just so happens to be a furniture store that has a giant blue chair to take pictures in. It's something we pass by 5 or 6 times a week, and I ALWAYS hear, "We want our picture with the big blue chair!" And it's something I'm ALWAYS too busy to stop and do. At that exact moment it clicked, there's the cutest frozen yogurt shop in the same shopping center that the kids just LOVE going to, but rarely get to. We could go there and then we could finally take their picture with the big blue chair! Mom for the win! It was so spontaneous that the kids were blown away when I actually said yes to the chair, but it was completely contingent on them being good at Nikki's Swirl Shoppe first. 

My parenting skills (bribery, whatever you want to call it) worked great, they were little angles for froyo, all so they could get to that big blue chair, which they loved! I didn't say no to anything they wanted in Nikki's. They picked every flavor they could and every topping that they asked for they got. I've never seen such a lopsided ratio of froyo to gummy worms in my life. But by gosh, they were HAPPY. Not happy because they had to be, but genuinely excited and happy. And honestly, so was I! They ate every bite of their giant bowls, and even cleaned the table without being asked. The big blue chair was perfect for pictures and then they were done! But they were beyond excited to tell their dad all about their "ice cream and big blue chair" adventure, which made me even happier with our choice!

I know how much I hate change, and how much I rely on planning to get me through my life. But our spur of the moment trip for frozen yogurt made me realize how much kids truly thrive on spontaneity.  Maybe it helped that this trip was so yummy (even for momma!) So here's to hoping that I can learn from my own mistakes and be a little more spontaneous and just let our kids be kids. After all, they are only this little once!