Us parents have to constantly judge whether it's right to become stressed about something when teaching our kids. Some days things bother us more than others. Some days we worry too much about what other people are thinking or saying. Some days we don't realise that when we say 'no', it's not because it does our kids any harm, but more because we can't be bothered dealing with the things that follow.
So, occasionally, I dig out these photos below and remind myself that some days I can just say 'yes'. Like this day in July 2007 when coming home on the last day of the school term, the local area flooded. We were faced with this and the only choice we had was to go through it and get extremely wet, or trudge the long way round. Maddie and Joshua had a schoolfriend coming home for tea and after much begging on their part, followed by a quick mobile call to their friend's Mum, the go-ahead was given for them to dive in and 'swim' in the field on the way home.
They had such fantastic fun coming home that day. Admittedly, had it been the day before, they would have probably had to walk the long way round. But occasionally us parents need to chill, to stand back and just let our kids be kids and let them do those mad little things, that ordinarily we'd never dream of letting them do.
So, if you're a parent, let go once in a while, let the kids do something a little wacky - as long as they're safe, no offence is caused to other people and nothing gets damaged, ask yourself where the harm is? If there isn't any, give them those precious moments to dive in and swim.
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