Sometimes, I want to be “fun” by letting my kids do things that are out of my comfort zone, because I don’t want to be super controlling and say “No, no, no” all the time. I mean, why not let them do what they want?
Live it up! Let kids be kids! Life is short!
But sometimes, the whole thing kinda sorta backfires and the joke’s on me.
Example: When I allowed Chase to play/rejoice in a huge box of styrofoam packing peanuts and it took a long, long, long time for us to get all those tiny, sticky pieces all cleaned up! I was not pleased with the outcome, and I kicked myself.
Or a couple days ago, when I let Charlotte carry around my deodorant stick, because she JUST wanted to “hold it & smell it,” and we later found this mysterious white, chalky stuff wiped all over Charlotte’s face & hair, the couch, end table, and all the coasters:
Sure enough, the deodorant was all used up! Silly me. I wasn’t sure how to get the coasters all cleaned off, so I stuck them in the dishwasher… Bad idea. Deodorant residue all over "freshly cleaned” dishes! I had to laugh at my silliness.
Also, on the same day, Chase wanted us to go out & build an igloo in the snow (we hadn’t had snow in forever, until a few days ago!). But there wasn’t enough snow to build a large, person-sized igloo like he wanted, so I got out our dozens of toilet paper & paper towel rolls that we have stocked up. We built a nice igloo with a blanket over it & a tunnel going inside.
However, after about 5 minutes I really should have snatched those things up & put them far, far away from Chase’s grasp! Because he threw the rolls all over downstairs, unraveled a few rolls of the paper towels & toilet paper all over downstairs, & also snuck a toilet paper roll up to his room so he could “TP” the bunk beds. I caught him in the act! He was bummed that he wasn’t allowed to continue.
At least he had fun while it lasted.
And I later informed Pace that we officially have a “Kid House.” I figure you know what I mean by that!