Let Them Be Kids

Our family is suffering from a serious illness.  It's highly contagious and has spread rapidly among family members.  Unaffected by any medicine, we're left to simply let it run its course. 

 

We are sharing an acute case of donec febris.  

 

Translated, cabin fever (at least that is what the online translator told me).

 

Ha.

 

The snow days with Daddy off of school have been hard because the boys don't want to do their schoolwork when Dad is around.  I can't blame them; I'd rather hang out with him too.  But since the school district is on its 6th snow day now, we can't just let all of our schoolwork go every time the clouds drop a few inches of snow or the temp tumbles below zero.  I felt like the "bad parent," keeping a firm hand on things while Dad got to be the fun one with video games, Legos, and board games.

Hannah's been having another rough spell with behavior, and I'm 99% sure it's teething related.  All four of her canines are still not in and the gums there look red and swollen.  She's been throwing food off the table at mealtime, throwing things and loudly crying when she doesn't get her way, and making gigantic messes everywhere she goes.

Add all this in to our acute case of cabin fever, and I've been cranky and impatient with the kids.  Andrew recognized it in himself too.  The things that make little kids cute... the way Hannah plays with toys, the way Joey puts a lot of drama into rolling dice, the way Ben leaves his library books all over the place after reading... it has been driving both of us bonkers. 

 

I don't want to nag at the boys to do school work.  I don't want to pick up Hannah's trail of whatever food she's been eating off the floor.  I don't want to tell the boys to keep their spit in their mouth.  I don't want to.  I don't want to.  I DON'T WANT TO.

 

Andrew rhetorically asked me the other day, "Why don't I just let the kids be kids?" as he recognized his impatience with them.

 

And what about me?  Why don't I just let the kids be kids?  ...by letting Hannah leave puzzle pieces all over the house because she loves puzzles.  And apple slice peels all over the floor because she loves fruit.  ...by letting Joey dramatically throw dice because he has a precious little imagination.  ...by letting Ben feed his love of reading, and if he leaves his books everywhere.  ...by letting the boys enjoy childhood in conjunction with times of focused learning.  ...by letting the boys leave their spit all over their faces.  No.  I draw the line at that one. 

 

This morning as I swept up the dried strands of spaghetti from under Hannah's chair, remnants of last night's dinner gone awry, I somewhat-jokingly repeated "Love is patient, love is kind" over and over.

And I thought of the advice of countless moms-of-olders, who remind moms-of-youngers that these days are fleeting.  There have been moments in the last few days that I wish I could put Hannah in a box and take her back out when she's 4 because I'm so over this toddler business.  But it's foolishness.  She'll actually be 4 before I know it and I'll ache for these days when I rock her before bedtime and we sing together... teaching her the ABCs and doing puzzles.  It'll be over sooner than I'd like.  The grass is always greener on the other side, isn't it?
 

And this blog post at a new site I found resonated with me substantially: 

 

Until spring, it's big breaths and taking it day by day.  Letting them be kids, letting them making messes, play, enjoy life. 

I'll miss it one day.