Thursday, August 16, 2012

Controlled Chaos...or something like that








Tonight was a little chaotic in our house.  My husband came home from work and picked up the Genius.  He took her out on a date and came home to drop her off.  Then he left for a Men's Bible Study/Leadership group he is in called Joshua's Men.  I was left with 3 kids who needed baths, 2 sets of cookies to make and a house that I was attempting to clean/keep clean for company coming tomorrow.  The evening went pretty smoothly.  After having some cookies though the 3 kids got wound up.  They were running loops through the downstairs, screaming, chasing, tickling, laughing.  And it was loud.  Really loud.  I was getting ready to ask them to hold it down and then I wondered why?  What were they really doing?  No one was trying to carry on a conversation.  They were not playing near the stove.  They were simply family members having a blast with each other.  So I let it go on.  The games lasted for well over 30 minutes and there was not a single tear or argument...just LOTS of screaming and laughing.  I truly enjoyed hearing this house filled with the sounds of our kids.  There are always article floating around about being a "yes" parent.  Choosing to say yes to some things when "no" is the first thing that pops into your head.  We took that to heart when the girls were young and we try to look for times to say yes.  Sometimes it is letting them get really loud and run around playing.  A few times it involved fairy wings and a trip to the store.  Sometimes it is kids looking up at you covered in melted chocolate and asking for one more cookie please?  It is pretty easy to find ways to say yes to your kids.  Let them stay up late one night to play a family game.  Wake them up early and surprise them with a donut.  Say yes when they want to play in the mud.  The memories made are truly priceless.

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