I have never fully understood why the very things that occupy children most happily, quietly and creatively are a) never toys you have purchased for said purpose and b) always make the hugest indescribable mess.
And so it was on this fine summer day that this little dude 'helped mommy by washing the dishes', while also using a half bottle of dish soap and an entire bottle of hand soap. Call me crazy, but I just could not bring myself to stop him. He was having way too much fun.
It is very difficult to allow such a free for all when I know it is just making more work for me later on...and yet, I have always taken the process-oriented approach.
Creativity! He is learning about cause and effect. He feels happy that he is 'helping' me. I got my kitchen floor washed free of charge.
I may never know what is gained from such messy adventures -- but I can say that allowing children to just be and create, within reason, makes a certain kind of sense. When I am able to resist the temptation to cringe at what it is costing me and just stand back and let it be, I often discover that it what they have gained is far more valuable than what I may have lost.
Taking this theory to its public arena: I'm having a hard time standing back and watching this health care debate get UGLY. One or two minutes of those town hall meetings has me cringing far more than when I see water and suds spilling over onto the floor! I have read so many theories about what in God's name is going on. Everything from the GOP payback for the Dems killing Social Security reform to this fight being the GOP's anxiety driven death rattle as they watch themselves fall from power in America.
I've lost a night sleep or two at how Obama is being vilified and oddly compared to The Joker from Batman (huh?)
It certainly appears to me a major mess.
But I've decided to trust that it is just an ugly form of democracy in action. I have decided to believe that what America will gain will be far more than what we seem to be losing in the process. I hope the clean up won't take too long or be too tiresome.
I have to KNOW HOPE. At this point it seems like the only choice.
And so it was on this fine summer day that this little dude 'helped mommy by washing the dishes', while also using a half bottle of dish soap and an entire bottle of hand soap. Call me crazy, but I just could not bring myself to stop him. He was having way too much fun.
It is very difficult to allow such a free for all when I know it is just making more work for me later on...and yet, I have always taken the process-oriented approach.
Creativity! He is learning about cause and effect. He feels happy that he is 'helping' me. I got my kitchen floor washed free of charge.
I may never know what is gained from such messy adventures -- but I can say that allowing children to just be and create, within reason, makes a certain kind of sense. When I am able to resist the temptation to cringe at what it is costing me and just stand back and let it be, I often discover that it what they have gained is far more valuable than what I may have lost.
Taking this theory to its public arena: I'm having a hard time standing back and watching this health care debate get UGLY. One or two minutes of those town hall meetings has me cringing far more than when I see water and suds spilling over onto the floor! I have read so many theories about what in God's name is going on. Everything from the GOP payback for the Dems killing Social Security reform to this fight being the GOP's anxiety driven death rattle as they watch themselves fall from power in America.
I've lost a night sleep or two at how Obama is being vilified and oddly compared to The Joker from Batman (huh?)
It certainly appears to me a major mess.
But I've decided to trust that it is just an ugly form of democracy in action. I have decided to believe that what America will gain will be far more than what we seem to be losing in the process. I hope the clean up won't take too long or be too tiresome.
I have to KNOW HOPE. At this point it seems like the only choice.
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