it's the little things...

After a very trying month with crazy work schedules, crazy activity schedules, bad attitudes, mouthy kids and too much yelling, I told my son that I thought he was a pretty cool kid. His response? "Well, I think you're a pretty cool mom." Ah.... that made my heart skip, melt, and sing all in the same moment.

I haven't set out to be the 'cool mom'. In fact, most of the time I'm pretty sure I'm not the cool one. But, I try to be fair and I try to look at life through their eyes. It's amazing how perspective changes when you grow up and become an adult. Unfortunately, it's not always for the better. In fact, as an adult, I find that I've lost the joy that my kids have... and sometimes I think I steal that joy from them. Most of the time, I'm armed with a critical spirit and a perfectionist attitude that towers over them. The combination of the two tends to end in disaster. I'm trying to change that.

This evening was the elementary school's PTO fundraiser at our local Dairy Queen. Thursdays are usually a busy evening as my husband and I are in the middle of a class that meets on Thursday evenings. But today, I decided that I was going to let my kids have fun being kids, be with their friends and go to DQ for dinner. Oh, I should mention that there is a dunk tank and both of my children's teachers were sitting in the hot seat. So they had to go.. they had to get a chance to dunk their teachers. On the way to our destination, I told the kids they could have whatever they wanted to eat. After I said it, I started to rethink my choice of words, but ultimately decided to follow through and let them have whatever they wanted. Their choice? Ice cream, of course! So, tonight, I let my children have ice cream for dinner. Really, would it kill them?

I know that there was some judgement from some people that my choice in allowing my kids to have just ice cream for dinner was a poor decision. But you know what? It was one night of joy for them. It was a night that I'm pretty sure they would remember for a long time.

I realized tonight, that to a kid, it's the little things in life that make it great. It's the nights of ice cream for dinner and throwing balls at a target to soak a teacher. It's dancing in the rain and jumping in the puddles when the sun comes out. It's spending those few precious moments holding and hugging instead of washing the dishes. It's playing cat's cradle before going to bed and ignoring that it's 15 minutes past bedtime. It's talking about what made today special and what would they have changed. It's going back in to kiss them goodnight or to pick them up and sing them a few songs so they can settle for the night.

I want to remember that it's the little things that matter. The laundry will wait. The dishes will still be there. But my kids... they won't be kids forever. They won't be here forever. But it's those little moments that they'll remember.