Let Them Be Little

Letting kids be kids is a struggle for all mothers, I believe. 

We expect so much from children these days. We often get onto them for bad attitudes, rude looks, acting immature, as well as less than perfect grades, school behavior, and frustrating little habits. 

When you take a step back, you realize that we, as adults, do not have perfect behavior either. We have bad days and grumpy attitudes often, why should we hold our kids to a standard that we don't follow?

Aside from behaviors, we get mad at messes. Repeat after me: Kids. Make. Messes. It's part of childhood and having fun! I have been working to let messes go and not worry about keeping everything tidy. Years ago, I used to struggle to keep the house clean. Now I struggle to let it get messy. I'm slowly teaching myself that playing with the kids, teaching them, and learning from them is more important than having a perfect house. 

Babies don't keep. 

Childhood is fleeting and they won't always want to catch butterflies, play in the mud, and pick a million dandelions for their mommy. 

Mom, you have to let loose. Let them be silly, don't worry about being perfect, worry about being THERE. Be PRESENT. Have FUN. 

I need to let them roll in the grass...

Let them climb fences....

Let them drink the milk out of cereal bowls...

Let them pick flowers...

 Let them play in the dirt...

Let them play outside in a diaper...

Let them play with worms...

Let them lick the peanut butter off the (child safe) knife...