Monday May 2nd, 2011 Just a thought

I can't believe it is May already...it really does feel as if we were just opening Christmas presents! I guess that was easter baskets :)

I really like to post pics on my blogs, so that whoever may be reading this can actually "see" whats going on. However, sometimes I have thoughts and ideas jumbled in my head that I really want to put down in print. Above is a picture of mr. Ratburn from Arthur that brings my children to laughing hysterical tears. It is one where The Brain actually makes a mistake.

I love to think...process, really get to the meat of the matter. Sometimes, this is a fault as well as a blessing (or maybe more than a blessing!) I often have a first "gut" reaction, that thankfully I don't usually respond to, which then becomes processing, considering the other options or opinions, and then beginning to form a formal assessment of the situation. I do try to be fair!

This comes into play a lot during the day. I want to be a "yes" mom-Can I have a cupcake? Can you help me get on this website? Can you play a game with me? Can we paint? Can we make a fort? Now, there are times that I have possibly just mopped the floor, or cleaned something really shiny, and they come to me and say, "can we?" and my gut instinct is, uh...really? I just worked really hard on that and I would like to enjoy it for more than ten seconds! Thankfully, the processing takes a short time and I give a halfway convincing YES, because really, what is more important? My clean floor or table, or memories of fun?

My husband and I also have a little rule we follow that goes like this...why not? Sometimes the kids will say, "Can we?" and one of us says "no." Now we try to form it a little bit more thoughtfully, like, "um, maybe..." and if it is a reasonable request, one of us might say to the other-respectfully-"why not?" "what real harm is in it?" Because sometimes it's just the shock of being asked a request that you weren't expecting when you are absorbed in a task of your own. I want my children to have a lot of different experiences to add to their bank of knowledge to draw from in the future. Now, I do have my NO's, and sometimes, that's how they come out-not intentionally, just gut reaction...I always make sure to follow up with an explanation and reasoning that is respectful to all.

The way I try to look at it is that sometimes there are things that I would really like to do, and generally, because I'm an adult, I get to do them. I hate to be engrossed in a project and have someone disrupt me. I try to give the same courtesy to my children. Now we all know that sometimes life happens, especially around here with seven children (three under 20 months)-but we just try to do the best that we can. It's the most we can do for each other.