I ask you! Why?! We all wait and wait to be grown ups so we can have all this fun we think we are missing out on as kids, and once we are there what do we end up with? Bills to pay, jobs to go to, diapers to change, food to cook, etc, etc, etc. Birthdays and Christmas become a stress and a drain on finances instead of something to be looked forward to and enjoyed. Going camping isn't just about sleeping out in a tent...Instead its about making sure all the tent poles are there, getting the tent set up and making sure there is enough food and other camping supplies to survive. The 4th of July becomes a race to find the best parking spot for the fireworks show, or the best spot along the parade route (lucky for us the parade comes right in front of our house, so securing our spot is relatively easy each year). Being a grown up is about making arrangements, thinking about and taking care of logistics, making the magic happen. The question is, are we trying to make it magic for our kids? Or ourselves?
Of course kids get excited about special toys, treats, trips and etc. But is giving them all those things what they need most? I have been watching my kids a lot lately. Observing some of their habits and quirks. If we go to the school or to a store that has multicolored tiles in the floor, then the world becomes a life sized game board to them. The game is one played by their own particular rules (which can change at any moment) and they spend their time hopping from color to color, or trying to stay on one color or line of tiles. Instead of walking a straight line they are suddenly skipping in every direction, having a great time! I can distinctly remember doing the same thing at the grocery store when I was a kid. I also spend a lot of time trying to think up spectacularly fun things to do with the kids. Then I run out of energy and most of my spectacular plans stay on paper and never happen. Do you know what my kids want most? Just time together. Watching a movie as a family, reading books together, baking cookies, going on walks, swinging at the park. Of course kids get excited about big vacations, but I honestly think that its the time we spend with them every day that they crave the most. I don't know when it suddenly became so hard to find that every day time. I think it has something to do with me forgetting how to have fun. I mean get down on your hands and knees and play kind of fun. When was the last time you had some fun? Think about it, and then go read a book with a kid. Once you let that chance slip by, you can't get it back. Maybe spending time with kids is the only way we will ever get that magic back.
Of course kids get excited about special toys, treats, trips and etc. But is giving them all those things what they need most? I have been watching my kids a lot lately. Observing some of their habits and quirks. If we go to the school or to a store that has multicolored tiles in the floor, then the world becomes a life sized game board to them. The game is one played by their own particular rules (which can change at any moment) and they spend their time hopping from color to color, or trying to stay on one color or line of tiles. Instead of walking a straight line they are suddenly skipping in every direction, having a great time! I can distinctly remember doing the same thing at the grocery store when I was a kid. I also spend a lot of time trying to think up spectacularly fun things to do with the kids. Then I run out of energy and most of my spectacular plans stay on paper and never happen. Do you know what my kids want most? Just time together. Watching a movie as a family, reading books together, baking cookies, going on walks, swinging at the park. Of course kids get excited about big vacations, but I honestly think that its the time we spend with them every day that they crave the most. I don't know when it suddenly became so hard to find that every day time. I think it has something to do with me forgetting how to have fun. I mean get down on your hands and knees and play kind of fun. When was the last time you had some fun? Think about it, and then go read a book with a kid. Once you let that chance slip by, you can't get it back. Maybe spending time with kids is the only way we will ever get that magic back.
4 comments:
I have more fun with my kids AWAY from the house. I am not very good about sitting and playing or watching movies with them. It is easier for me to enjoy them AWAY..however. I don't plan huge trips either. OMSI or the zoo is enough.
PS love the music, I so couldn't figure out where it was coming from!
You hit the nail on the head. I try to plan and do so many fun things and I wonder myself if it's more for me than them. Chloe likes to cuddle and Lindsey likes doing the hokey pokey. Just paying sole attention to them makes their day. We are trying to have dates with them more often so we have that one on one time and they have fun when they just have Mom or Dad's attention.
The music player is down at the bottom of the page. It actually has five songs on it that I picked out, but I doubt anyone is ever on here long enough to hear all of them.
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