As a mother of two kids, I have been constantly put in an annoying situation when I take my kids to their grandparents’ house.
Let me play out the scenario for you. I would have dressed my children up in these cute little outfits, a pretty dress and a headband for my little girl and a cute little colour co-ordinated outfit for my little son. We drop them at Gran's house and leave to do some shopping. Upon our return, both kids look like you’ve dipped them in mud!
My son will be running around barefoot with paint and crayon marks everywhere and my little baby girl will have the entire bottom part of her romper unbuttoned and she will be feeling nice and sticky when you carry her. “Ugh!” I lose it “Gran why are the kids so messy?”
Gran in her defence would say
“Oh shush dear, they are having fun!” In all fairness, when I look at them, they have never been happier! It got me thinking…who cares if my baby’s new giggles outfit got a few stains on it? Perhaps I’ve got my priorities all wrong. Gran certainly thinks differently and she’s been around a lot longer than I have to certainly realize what’s important for her grandkids.
From a teacher’s point of view, she’s spot on. Kids learn through play. They learn by exploring their world around them and experimenting with objects by using their 5 senses.
So parents, let’s allow our kids to get up to all sorts of nonsense. Allow them to take your bed sheets out and create a tent for themselves to hide under, so they can develop the use of their imagination.
Allow them to squish that orange that you cut so neatly for them to eat, so they can experiment with their sense of touch and hopefully taste as well.
Allow them to dirty their bare feet so they can feel the ground beneath their little toes. Their childhood only comes once. We have got to make sure it’s memorable for them, and if their clothes come back dirty from gran's house, embrace the dirt! If you do freak out like I did, get some cheaper outfits for trips to gran’s house and invest in a good bottle of stain remover.