Rules. I never have been a fan of rules. "Be home by 10pm." "15 items or less." "Don't wear white after Labor Day." They all get a huge sigh and eye roll drone me.
Now I understand that there are rules in place to keep us safe, and maintain law and order, but others are just plain silly. And some we just don't know why we do them - we do it just because someone told us not to. Think, drinking milk from a half gallon jug. What is really the harm? I personally buy an additional one just so that my husband and son can have at it. Why? Because it is fun. It makes them happy. It is one way to bring a sense of play into their lives. This example brings up a good point. Why at one point did it seem wrong to break this silly rule? Because it was some rule that I heard when I was growing up and held onto it.
So in 2015 I am committing to making sure to take a good look at some of our rules and subitutie them with play.
When Storm was little I used to take him with me to the store and avoid the toy isle. I thought it would help in the long run as I didnt want to buy a toy eveytime we visit Target. I also viewd it as a waste of time as we had other destinations to get to and wanted to make sure our day was not taken up by the Target run. A few months ago I really started to look at this in a different light. Seeing how happy the simple act of going up and down the aisles made my son really changed my outlook. This IS the destination. Playing is the goal. Target is now a family outing. An event. We treat target like a museum. This doesn't mean he gets a toy everythime, just like when going to a museum you don't get to take any of the artifacts home. It allows him to have fun with his mom and no cost to me. Just spending pure quality time with him is enough for him. It brings him more than any toy ever would.
Bliss.
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