The YES parents

Today we were "those parents".  The ones who let the kid run in the creek.  The ones who allow rock throwing.  The ones who got ice cream and slim jims and worms all at the same location and put it all on the table.  The ones who had squishy shoes and dirty pants.  We laughed out loud.  We screamed in the woods.  We were the ones you did not wish to see traipsing down the trail. 

Yet we had a blast.  We were the "YES let's do this" parents.  We spend so much time saying NO and giving a host of reasons why we can't, that today we said YES.  Because really why not? 

The opportunity for a child to explore at his pace, see the things he wants to see and do it in the way he deems fit is a glorious thing.  In the bustle of life we forget that they are not little adults.  They are children.  They need to move and touch and smell and roll in life.  So often they can't.  Society norms make them walk with us, stand up, don't touch it and be quiet.  We are so fast and busy we forget they can't see what we see or think what we think.  They have not seen and done it yet.  We are so busy we forget how to just be in the moment.  Today we were in the moment. 

So today we took 2 bags of bread, 3 changes of clothing and a bag of odd snacks on an adventure. It was enjoyable to watch our child venture off the beaten path and make his way into a creek bed.  It was disgusting and entertaining to see how he watched a snail on his palm for so long.  It was fascinating to see him put his head under the water fall to see what was behind it.  We watched him collect water bugs (not really sure how he caught them).  We heard him tell other children about the water or the rocks or the smells.  It was annoying how he would not listen about the geese being mean and just kept hissing back at them.  It was grand to hear his laugh of utter delight when he touched a fish he had been holding bread for. 

Our lives are full of NO and good valid reasons why we should not do stuff.  Every so often, as adults, we need to just be able to have the time to just give in to what is uncomfortable for us, what is not acceptable and let our children explore what interests them, in their own time and as loud as they need to be.   It is not to say we did not set boundaries and limits on what he was doing, but we did it in a different way today. 

Tonight before it was time to go to bed, our little boy asked if tomorrow we could have another "family day".  I heard him.  He liked the day he had.  Sadly we can not have one tomorrow, but we can have another one soon.