I never saw myself as the type who would one day be that mom, the one who flips out over Cheerios on the floor and red paint on the toddler’s forehead. I kind of always assumed I’d be the cool mom, the one who got down and dirty and made mud pies and dirt soup with her kids, and finger painted with them until everyone looked like they’d just finished a paintball tournament.
Meanwhile, over here in reality land where I’ve been a mom for more than seven years, I’m the mom who hides the Play-Doh and has a panic attack about paints in the house.
Maybe it’s the I have three children and I can’t afford to care anymore phenomenon, but I have recently come to the conclusion that if I want my children to have a colorful, artistic, fun childhood, I have to give it to them.
Oh.
Let them paint.
So, I’m making a sometimes painful change. I’m going to be more like my mother-in-law, who lets them paint. {I will borrow an ingenious trick of hers, though: I slip a flattened paper grocery bag underneath their artwork while they’re working!} When the weather is nice, I will send them out to the picnic table so I don’t have to have a spazz attack anytime paint touches my carpet or my dining room table, but I will let it happen.
I will let them run around outside without shoes on, or even {gasp!} in their socks. If I want them to be like Huckleberry Finn, I have to let them actually be like Huckleberry Finn, right?
I promise to let them play with Play-Doh, and I won’t even worry too much if they leave some on the counter and it dries out. It doesn’t last forever, right? {Another tip: I cover my granite counter top with plastic cling wrap for easy clean-up. As an added bonus, they think it’s cool.}
The bottom line is this: I will try to let them be children. Childhood is supposed to be messy and fun and chaotic and colorful. I will endeavor to give them that.
But I may be standing by with the disinfectant spray.
Do you struggle with this as a mom? Share it with us!
I really enjoyed this one. Definitely food for thought.