Stress Reliever

We’ve been taking a parenting class at church during the Sunday School hour. It’s Dr. Dobson’s new series about what’s right, what’s not, and what’s ok. We discussed being loving vs. controlling Today, one of the dads was talking about how he felt he always wore the controlling hat when he came home from work. He demanded order and control. I couldn’t help but think how I wouldn’t fit into that kind of setting. We tend to have an awful lot of fun around here. When Phil comes home, it seems the silliness begins. I have trained the girls to greet daddy at the door with great excitement. It’s usually screaming and tearing thru the house to see who can get to daddy first. Every now and then I decide to attempt to jump into his arms around the girls. You should see it! It really is quite a site. He doesn’t always enjoy it though!

Anyway, back to the discussion from Sunday School…
We have quite a cross-section of parents from parents who have newborns to parents who have grown kids (and a few teens still living at home). We have really had some good conversation. I kept hearing that dad talk about how tough it was. Then he talked about how stay-at-home moms have so much more time to show the kids love. I was chuckling inside. He must have no clue what his wife does all day because I know personally that she doesn’t have much time to stop and think! I had to speak out and say that we struggle with the showing love while “keeping control” of the kids too.

Now, back to the title…we rented Curious George tonight. What a hoot. Our youngest was scared because George got “lost” from the man with a Yellow hat, and several other parts scared her, but I was laughing so hard, I found it quite difficult to comfort her. I kept having to say, “What George did was bad, although it was funny.” I could see her wheels turning even though she was busy crying about being scared. I sure hope she doesn’t try the things George did just because she loves to be funny!

I decided to be the crazy parent tonight. I climbed up the stairs, then got down on hands and knees and crawled my way into our oldest’s bedroom. I then crawled into her bed and snuggled in “tight” to go to sleep. She didn’t like it, but I kept calling her mommy. She was beginning to thing I was quite weird. Then, I did the my lips are stuck to your cheek “kiss”routine, which she usually thinks is funny, but she was annoyed instead. Oh well, guess you can’t win them all. Oh, and then I started SCREAMING when her stuffed black bear got near me. I acted like I was freaking out until I could finally bat it across the room. Then, our other daughter came in to see what the problem was, and brought her pink bear. I SCREAMED at it, only to elicit “MOMMY! It’s Rose Bear and she loves you, see. She kissed you.” Holding back the laughter, I tried screaming louder because I just got kissed by a bear. As you could see, it wasn’t quite quiet tonight. I usually don’t get crazy at bedtime because I’m so ready for them to be asleep, but I guess my nap helped!

The next room brought much silliness too. I went into our youngest’s room and treated her like she was the mommy. She kept saying, “I’m not the mommy, you are.” I kept snuggling and telling her how much I loved her. I asked if she was going to drive us to the dentist tomorrow, but she said I was. I didn’t think it was smart for me the “kid” to drive, so she said she would even though she couldn’t reach the pedals and see out the window. I wasn’t sure if I should become scared at that point or not!

All in all, silliness is quite a stress-reliever. It is also a fun way to show extra love to 2 very wonderful girls.

Good night. My pillow is calling me.