We have some friends in town, so I’m late getting this post up. You’ll forgive me right? I felt like I had to get something up because next Monday, I may not be able to post either. Whoever came up with this idea to have a Monday link up was crazy.
Oh yeah. That was me. Why I do that to myself, I’ll never know. We all know Mondays can still suck when you’re a stay at home mom!
We’ve been having fun with our friends, and it’s been delightful to have two extra adults who don’t have kids yet and think our kids are fun to have around. (they actually really are fun to have around most of the time…I kind of love them) My 2 year old has really taken to one of them, and basically needs no entertaining when he is around, so that is great. But, we’ve been busy. Running around non-stop and having a good time. You know, pushing our kids to the edge by making them skip naps and stay up later than normal, and hike huge boulders and stuff. But, so far, we haven’t had too much catastrophic behavior as a result.
It got me thinking about kids and their fears. We were watching Despicable Me 2 with the kids and our friends last night after a long day of hiking and playing outside, and my littlest seemed a little concerned about those mean purple minions in the movie. If you haven’t seen it, you’ll have to just go watch it. It really is funny, and I’m not even a huge fan of kid movies most of the time. Anyway, he was jumping and sitting close to me, and just looked a little overly concerned. He even had a bad dream that night which may have been about purple minions. Yet, that day, he had been fearlessly climbing up rocks and boulders with no concern for cracking his skull open.
It’s funny what kids are afraid vs. what parents are afraid of. For example, they will climb, jump, swing, or fall from things with no fear of breaking a limb, yet they don’t want to walk from the car to the front door at night if it’s already dark.
They will eat ice cubes off the floor at a restaurant while I move in what feels like slow motion to stop them from contracting a horrible disease as a result. But, if they have to walk up to a stranger and ask for more napkins, they are frozen with fear.
We worry about their reckless behavior climbing rocks, and catching diseases, but they are worrying about the monster sleeping under their bed. I guess that’s what makes kids so endearing and what makes us parents so crazy. We know the consequences of their behavior, but they are clueless. They are without fear from the things that could actually hurt them, meanwhile, they are petrified by the things that can’t.
And, if I really give it some serious thought, I’m a little irrational too at times. I fear about the unknown when I should just chill the heck out and trust that someone else is in control of it all anyway. My fears are irrational too. So, I guess for now, I’ll give them a little slack, and worry about things that really matter. Like watching them crack their heads open on large rocks, and try to chill out about things like ice cubes on the restaurant floor. Although, I’m making no promises.
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Have fun with your friends!
I can be irrational at times too. But my daughter gets hurt A LOT so I’m always paranoid now. She likes to jump off the playground equipment, or hang upside down from it, and it takes all my effort not to yell, “PLEASE don’t break something.”
I haven’t had a kid break anything. Yet. But, with two boys in the family, I’m sure it’s bound to happen. Although, I think my daughter is more of a risk taker than they are!
I’m just incredibly impressed that you get blogs up as often as you do. AND with friends in town. WHEN do you sleep?
I actually do most of my blogging during nap time. That helps a LOT. But, it’s what I love. Believe it or not, I work for another blogger too, so I’m doing blog stuff for at least a couple of hours a day. 🙂
I used to feel so frustrated with how erratic my oldest daughter’s fears were- they seemed totally arbitrary and definitely irrational at times. I seem to be getting a bit more laid back these days, and I’m crossing my fingers that my toddler’s willy-nilly preferences and fears won’t throw me for as much of a loop. 🙂 We’ll see how that turns out…
Yes. Now that I have 3, I definitely have let go a little more. In fact, I’m pretty sure my youngest swallowed a tiny lego piece yesterday, and I barely flinched.
I agree. I sometimes wish I could be as carefree a fear-free as my kids. Then, again, I have to protect them and teach them, so that would probably not be a good idea! 🙂
Ha! Exactly. If someone gets to be carefree, I guess it’s good that it’s them and not us. 🙂
Oh my kids are fearless too! It can be a real challenge to have them listen to a word I say, but hey I’m guessing I was like that too when I was their age.