Insulation

This weekend, I was watching my kids play with the bouncy horse that I enjoyed as a toddler.  It was fantastic, they had so much fun, got a little excercise, and were all smiles... even through taking turns, there was little discord.  Hubby mentioned a brilliant idea to my cousin about how making bouncy horses like this and selling them would be a money making proposition. 

Then the list began.  Our bouncey horse was red, which means it probably has lead paint having been made in the 60s or 70s.  And then, there's the real hazard of pinching a finger in the springs.  Or worse yet, another child might walk in front and get hit with the horses mouth.  The government has created laws that prohibit people from selling toys like that.  You can't make and sell new ones, and we couldn't legally sell this one at a yard sale without risking the US government deciding that we've broken a federal law. 

Children of the 21st Century are insulated from the natural consequences of their actions.

Remember studying for the SATs, and you needed to understand analogies?  In our lives, we can learn lessons used in one situation, and apply them to situations we encounter in others.  Natural consequences allow humans to develop reasoning and logic skills (common sense, anyone?). 

With the horsey, 5 children played uneventfully for several hours.  No one licked the horse.  No one stuck their fingers in the springs and got pinched.  No one got hit when walking past too close to the horse.  My family all kind of sat back and let the kids play, isn't that what kids are supposed to do after all?

Based on this experience, and similar previous ones, I trust my kids.  I trust that if their friends are jumping on a trampoline, my kids will be smart enough not to grab the springs.  I trust that if they walk by some kids swinging, that they'll allow a wide enough berth not to get kicked in the head.  I trust my older one to avoid licking lead paint, and supervise the younger one, sometimes from a distance, to ensure that she remains trustworthy as I develop that trust in her.

I often hear about 2 schools of thought.  One is that if we grew up doing it, and it didn't hurt us, it was good enough for us, it's good enough for our kids.  Then I hear about how when we know better, we do better.  I see merit in both arguements.   I don't want to be casting my 6 year olds arm, or 3 year old's leg.  I don't want to see my kids get hurt.  What I DO want is for my kids to develop the ability to make good choices on their own without me questioning every choice they make.  I want them to be confident in their physical abilities, but realistic about their skills as well.  If that means that they misjudge a distance at the playground and fall, I might be taking a trip to the ER... When you fall, you get hurt... that's a natural consequence, and kids need to learn it. 

As we were packing up to leave our little get together, our bigger one was playing on an excercise ball.  His dad was right there, within arms reach, when he lost his sense of direction for a moment somehow.  He crashed to the floor, landing, of course, on his head.  The goose egg formed immediately, and tears ensued.  A little ice applied.  The injury of the day came, not from playing with the outlawed toy, but from enjoying a "safe" inflatable ball.

The Tinkerbell Party

With the next birthday looming right around the corner (OK, so its more than 3 months away...) I decided it was time to blog the last birthday for the girl. She's already planning this year's party, so these ideas need to come out so new ones can formulate, right?

The lil one was ALL about Tinkerbell this year, so sneaky mom that I am, had a co-worker who was thin, and blond, and a sucker....

Meet Tinkerbell!

The party started, as most parties we host do, with something that everyone could be involved in until everyone had arrived... in this case, beads and pipecleaners... I had the stash already for the most part, including bigger wooden beads for the littlest guests.  Once Tinkerbell arrived (as announced with some jingle bells and a twinkling light that could be seen outside the window:

"She's here!  She's here!"

Apparently I was caught in the act of creating Tink's costume, because my munchkin announced to her and the room at large that she THOUGHT I would be making her a costume, but I DIDN'T (the nerve) so she didn't ahve a costume to wear!  Tink was appropriately sympathetic... and then told us about the sprinting thistles... You know... those little meadow creatures that are always "poking everybody in the petunia."

Well.. you don't want them on your side of the meadow, so you toss them over the hill into the other side... and back and forth until arms are tired or the game gets boring (in this case, about 20 minutes!)

Next, we do some projects:  On the list for today: Bug Fingerpuppets and Ice Painting (note the spring time arriving theme?  First Tinkerbell movie?  eh? anyone? eh?).  Up next, some more games of course... (aka, give my suckers, errrr... family a chance to clean up my mess while I have fun with the kids... )  So we labeled some paper squares with kids names and put all their take home goodies on the back counter, and headed over the the orange foam boards I'd taped to the floor... AKA: the Alligator Crocodile Pit.  You grab a little vial of pixie dust (glitter in a small bottle with water) and balance across the beam, avoiding the snapping croc to deliver the dust Tink needs to get back home.  I was worried that this involved story line would bore all but the oldest kiddoes, what I found was the the tiny ones were taken with the miniature tubes and the challenge of the balance... we let them keep playing, and the big kids that came helped by taking turns being Crocodiles or returning the collected pixie dust to the start for more fun!

Our daycare provider (whom we love and are so fortunate to have in our lives!) made an Everyone Wins! Pin the Tink on Pixie Hollow game for the party (which hung in the girls room for MONTHS!).  All the little goodies that I'd grabbed at 75% off in the Target dollar bins made GREAT everyone wins prizes, plus, each munchkin got to take home the Tinkerbell with their name on it!  They were ecstatic!

And then it was time for cake: The request: Cherry cake with Strawberry Icing, but she was willing to settle for whatever I could find in pink...  The result?  A LOT of pink!

And that was that... we sent everyone off with a goodie bag with a tiny little glitter notebook, tinkerbell markers or crayons, some type of Tink make up/jewelry/hair doo-dad, and some fairies socks... Pretty successful year!