Our son Gray has been expressing himself so much lately. At lunches I’ve come home from work, and the moment he sees me, he screams! It is so cute!
Anyhow, here he is so happy to be eating lunch. Everybody within a hundred metres knew he was happy too!
Kids jumping through the sprinkler signals summer has arrived
Today I had the boys outside playing soccer with our mini nets! They love having a game of kids vs me. With all the buzz around the house trying to clean and prepare for the wedding, I spent far too much time in the house. They kept coming in asking when I could come out and play. Finally, after getting the baby to sleep for a nap, I came out. We had a blast. As expected, they came through in the end and beat ‘the old man’ 20-19.
I love days like today. The kids riding their bikes, trying to spray birds with the hose, spying on the neighbourhood with the binoculars, playing soccer on the freshly mowed lawn, the baby having an outdoor bath in the Rubbermaid, and then sitting at the picnic table eating freshly cut watermelon. To top off our evening, I brought out the sprinkler! They jumped around so excited, like they had just arrived at the fair!
Today wasn’t the warmest day(probably 18 celcius), but they ran through the sprinkler for 1/2 an hour. Even our little 1 year old was curious about it.
To me, kids laughing and running through the sprinkler is the signal that summer has arrived. Forget the official date on the calendar, there is hardly a more summertime moment than kids jumping, laughing and playing in the water.
Through all the stress of planning this wedding, trying to maintain a busy house, and juggling the needs of 3 kids at distinctly different ages, nothing makes me happier to be a dad than seeing my kids having so much fun…I love it.
Has fun changed since my glory days of Halloween?
Happy Halloween everyone! I went out tonight with the kids, and stormed around the streets. They were so much fun to watch. Life time memories. I couldn’t contain their spirits. They were a buzz. I have never seen them run so much, with such enthusiasm. If only they showed the same determination for chores around the house. ha ha.
But, for some reason, there is something wrong. I can’t put my finger on it really. It is like Halloween is a holiday to teach kids important lessons about life. It’s not about fun anymore. Here are some of the thoughts that went through my head tonight…
- You tell your kids, ‘make sure to say thank you!’.
- Don’t run, or you may get hit by a car.
- You can’t eat ANY of the candy until I “inspect” it all…
- Don’t let your kids touch or play with fireworks.
- Wear bright reflective vests/bracelets/lights to be seen.
- Keep them in your sight so they aren’t snatched away.
- Feel kind of creeped out when some nicely dressed witch lady asks to take a picture of your kid because she loves his costume.
- Where are all the homemade treats? Candy apples, popcorn, homemade taffy. You can’t trust what people who live practically next door work hard to make for this special occasion?
- Why does it irritate me to see teens out in really lame costumes going door to door? I did it too…It eventually get boring. Why does it feel like they are stealing or taking advantage of people?
- Why is it bad to drive around with your kids to find a great place to trick or treat? Some kids don’t live in an area where the residences can afford the treats.
There are probably a bunch more things that went through my mind, but it made me think, did my parents think all this crap when I was little? I will probably ask them one day. I am curious.
When did all this paranoia start? This dis-trust? When did it become a holiday where we don’t trust our neighbours? When did it get weird to have people take pictures of kids? When did we start needing to have our kids be seen more than any other day? When you go out with them normally, do they always wear blinky lights, glow in the dark bracelets, reflective tape? How is Halloween worse? Most of the people I know, are completely aware of Halloween night, you drive a bit slower, and that there are tons of kids wandering the streets. FOR A FEW HOURS…That’s it…
Do we need to protect our kids so much? Maybe. I don’t really know. I just try to do my best with them. But I am inclined to think we are over protecting them. To their own detriment. I am sure the boys had a blast tonight. But I think we are losing the fun. And I think that over-protecting them is not preparing them for real life. I watched a video a few years back about this era of protecting our kids. Today, because of my racing mind, I remembered it, and thought I would re-post it for you. Here you go.
Maybe I am just a dad now, and Halloween is no longer seen through rose coloured glasses…
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