Skittles For Lunch (86/366)

Thursday March 29, 2012

I've never professed to be a perfect mom - in fact, I'm super-far from it!

Some days I do my best...

Others, I am a wee bit of a slacker.

Like today.

We got up this morning and got ready for Hannah to head to school.  When she got on the bus (an accident-free journey today, unlike yesterday), I sat down to inhale a cup of coffee or two.

Ava and I headed out to "The Car Store", our local bodyshop for a long overdue oil change.

An hour later, we were headed to the grocery store.

Another hour later, we were headed home.  I could've gone for McDonald's for lunch, but Pink Slime isn't on the menu today.

I figured we would make sandwiches or something at home before I put Ava down for her nap.

While my phone wouldn't stop ringing, I ended up being in one conversation or another for over an hour.  At this time, it was 12:30.

The entire time I was yacking away on the phone, Ava was happily seated on the living room floor eating a bag of Skittles that I had bought her in the grocery checkout lane to keep her content - she had been getting restless in the store as her lunch and naptimes were drawing ever near.

I realized at this point I had 3 hours until we needed to leave to pick Hannah up and head to dance class.

"If I feed her lunch now," I thought, "It will be at least an hour before she's done eating, and I have to wake her by 3 so we can leave by 3:30..."

So I dropped the gauntlet.

And for the next 10 minutes I tried convincing her that naps were good, that I hate taking naps too, that I understand her plight...

As I laid her in bed, she was still finishing the last two Skittles.  She washed them down with her sippy cup of ice water, I kissed her goodnight and left the room.

No, I don't have a sinking feeling in my gut because I didn't feed my kid lunch today.

No, I don't care that this one time she went down for a nap with skittles on her teeth.

Ava is the least hungry kid that I've ever known.  She never asks for food.  Most other days, we eat as healthy and balanced as our budget will provide.  But yes, sometimes us girls have cereal for dinner.

So what?!

It is what it is.  Sometimes that happens.  I'm not sorry.

Ava is no worse for the wear because she didn't get a big balanced meal for lunch today.  And it will most likely happen many more times in the years to come.

I did it.

You did it.

I'm alive.

You're alive.

I think sometimes we as parents put waaaaaay too much of society's pressure on ourselves to consistently give the BEST ALL OF THE TIME. 

I think we forget to live.

I think we get a little farther away from reality.

Yes, most of the time our children (and ourselves) need healthy balanced meals, they need strict guidelines from their parents, they need rules, they need structure.

But seriously, that's NO FUN.

So, let's relax a little.  No, I'm not suggesting that you give your kid Skittles for lunch any day.  That's up to you.

But I am suggesting that we just CHILL. 

Don't you think better kids come from chill parents than super uptight-rulesy ones?

I can't wait to send my beautiful princesses next door to roll in the mud with those 4 roudy neighbor boys.

I will be right there filming and taking pictures - laughing right along with them.

(And then I'll go home and cry about the fact that their most mud-worthy playclothes are still in stellar condition, and I now have to throw them away).  But no one will see that!

I'm thankful for the opportunity to NOT take life so seriously sometimes.

It's really fun.  You should try it!