In and Out, then Up and Down

boyshotdog

My boys can’t stay still. Now I know they’re toddlers and that means endless amounts of energy at least 10x more than I have on any given day, so it gets tough to keep up! But my thing is – and I don’t have a daughter for comparison, that boys are “extra” at this age. I certainly see a natural desire to be rough and tumble, can’t sit still, etc…

Well, on a recent outing to Chick-fil-A, my boys made a beeline for the playground (note: all Chick-fil-A’s have one if you ever need one), so I sat down on a booth that looked into the play area to eat…I figured they would come eat when they got hungry. Well, they did..but then it was in and out, up and down. I mean they’d come out and eat for a second then run back into play. My younger son was managing to open the door that separated us, but every time I had to get up to make sure he could enter the play area safely. I can’t even tell you how many times I went back and forth.

Now, call me what you want, but it doesn’t really bother me. I guess my philosophy at this age is to let them be…within reason of course. There are only so many times I can ask them to sit down or stop. They just seem to have so much energy that I figured why not let them get it all out and if that means up and down, in and out…fine. You pick your battles, right?

But getting back to the situation that we were at Chick-fil-A, another family with slightly older children joined in at the play area…of course my boys are always excited to have company, they are very outgoing. However, I couldn’t help but feel that the father of the 2 kids that joined in, was giving me the “side eye,” judging me for letting my boys go up and down and in and out. On the one hand I did feel bad, like my kids are setting a bad example or a bad influence, but on the other, oh well. For me it all comes down to do what works for you…so if allowing my boys to be a little “wild” and not completely compliant with the way I’d like them to quietly sit down and eat, before nicely playing in the playground works for me..then sobeit!