Come on! Let the Kids Have Some Fun!

I'm fun. But my fun has its limits. If it means I have to bathe the kids two nights in a row, I'm not fun anymore. When they asked whether they could roll down the hill outside our front door, I told them as much. Unfortunately, I am alone in this world. My wife was totally on the kids' side, and from the comfort of the childless kitchen, she called out, "Come on! Let the kids have some fun!" I called back, "Okay. I'll also let you bathe the kids!" "Wimp!" she replied. I gave in, and it was so fun watching them roll down the hill laughing on a perfect, cool, breezy day, that I decided to at least dry them off after their baths. I wish I were better, like my wife, at letting the kids have a little more fun, even when it involves dirt and a little extra work cleaning up.

I do give the kids more freedom than I used to. For example, I used to storm into my daughter's room and scold her for playing around when she should have been napping. Now, for the most part, I hear her over the monitor singing and playing and let her fall asleep on her own eventually. Because she can't past the child-proof door knobs, however, I get a little worried when I hear grunting that she may need to go potty. Yesterday, I ran up to her room upon hearing some grunting and saw that she had bent the library books backwards and slipped into the plastic covers. She had one around her legs and another around her torso. She was grunting because she couldn't bend down to get another. It was admittedly hard to be firm putting her back to bed when she did that, because it was so funny. So, I let the kids have fun. Or, I at least forbear from being too firm when they have too much fun.