Let Kids Be Kids

A good friend sent me this letter she recieved. I love it. I feel too often people are expecting my boys to be perfect. I have a hard time yelling at my kids for doing kids stuff. Maybe because I see alot of myself in my children and I remember feeling looked down upon a lot for being so silly. I say we are only kids once. And if we are really lucky (as I feel I am) we will get some kids with great imagination and a lot of energy to use the imaginations and maybe once in a while they will let us join in and pretend we are kids again. Now I am not saying let your children run crazy and do naughty things. I am saying let them enjoy being children. After all they will have to be an adult for the rest of their life.
The letter is as following
Parents need to remember that a kid deserves to be a kid
The other day a friend asked me about my pet peeves. After determining the runners-up - wasting my time and buying clothing for dogs - I finally settled on my No. 1 pet peeve: expecting children to act like adults.
I am so tired of some teachers thinking that if a little boy does not sit still during school there is something wrong with him and he needs medication. I am completely incensed over parents expecting to take a child to Wal-Mart at what should be bedtime. They do this with the mistaken belief the child won't start whining, begging and - to the delight of other shoppers - screaming for the majority of the trip. Oh, and the worst is those people who get angry when a valuable heirloom, sitting within reach of a toddler, is broken.
It's time for each of us to take a minute and reflect back to a time when your first inclination at seeing a puddle of water was to jump in it, with or without your brand new shoes on. Can you remember how fun it was to run down long, vibrating, echoing halls screaming at the top of your lungs? Think of the masterpieces you drew with permanent marker on your walls, dresser, clothing and belly ... all before Mr. Eraser came along, too. Hopefully we all, to some extent or another, had the good fortune to be a carefree child. However, it seems to me we are trying to take that same opportunity away from today's children.
Children were not made to ignore the mud puddle, even in their Sunday clothes. They were not designed to be able to pass by a bowl of candy without reaching for a fistful. They need to build forts, catch fireflies and dream of unicorns. It is our job as caring adults to ensure that there is time to build the forts and that the fireflies are being caught in something besides the antique vase. For heavens sakes, we need to make certain our children know what a unicorn is so their dreams can be beautiful.
Before you all start writing to me criticizing my parenting strategies, I should let you know I get quite enough of that from my 4-year-old daughter. However, if you still feel the need to chastise me, you should also know that I do believe in teaching my children respect. I just believe that it should be done in an age-appropriate manner that keeps in mind my responsibility as the adult and their inclinations as children. As an adult I have come to the conclusion that my childhood passed by way too quickly and I am bound and determined to ensure that my children have a childhood worth remembering.
So the next time your child gets the baby powder down to make "snow" remember three things: First, imagine how neat it looked shooting out of that bottle and landing on everything. Second, why was it where they could reach it in the first place? And, lastly, don't forget the camera. This precious little child will grow up much too quickly and you will want a lasting reminder of the moment.
Amy Bates is a resident of Cedar City. She is a member of The Spectrum & Daily News Writers Group.

Sledding time

We finally found time to go sledding this year. Michael decided he only liked going down with out a sled. He even gave me a stern talking when I made him go on the sled. He informed me that he doesn't go down on a sled just his bottom. Everyone else enjoyed using the sleds.

Hinckley Challange

For those who do not know there is an e-mail going around to challenge everyone to read the Book of Mormon in 97 day in memory of President Hinckley. Now I know this is not sponsered by the church but I believe it is a fun thing to do and what can hurt by reading the Book of Mormon. If you are interested in more information and want to sign up here is the link www.hinckleychallenge.com . Jeremiah and I are very excited about this challenge and we know we will be blessed by reading from the scriptures.

YouTube - Tribute to the late LDS President Hinckley

YouTube - Tribute to the late LDS President Hinckley

I found this on a friend Blog (thanks Sara). I love what Glen Beck says. Sorry I couldn't figure out how to post it so you can watch it on my blog so you will have to just go to the link and watch it on YouTube.

Shoot out at the OK Corral

Jeremiah and I were getting ready to get the kids to bed when I heard "Stick them up Daddy". We looked over and there were the boys on the couch with their make shift guns....
Here is Jeremiah trying to dodge the bullets

I have come to realize Jeremiah is a Matrix wannabe

Here we go a camping

Here are just some fun pictures of when we went camping back in December. Building the fire, the tent and bed time.