Letting go…

I’ve been thinking about letting go lately. Letting go of my need for clean-and-organized. Letting go of my babies as we get ready to start Preschool (for Astrid) and KINDERGARTEN (for Hazel). Letting go and letting them grow seem to go hand-in-hand.

My girls are independent kids. They always have been, and, even though it’s tiring (oh, so tiring), hopefully, they always will be.

So, we encourage them to help. We foster their independence. We give them tasks to do. We make them clean up after themselves.

Frankly, I don’t want to do everything for them. I want them to be able to put their clothes away (even if that means the shorts are in the wrong place). I want them to understand that if they don’t have respect for their things, then their things may cease to be their things.

The best thing is when they actively WANT to help out, and my job is to let them help in the way they can. Which means crazily-folded towels, messy-ass closets, and barely-wiped tables.

But that’s all fine, because we’re one step closer to nicely-folded towels, well-organized closets, and clean post-meal tables. Right?

I mean, look at how happy this child is to be hanging up her clothes. Of course, right before this, she was throwing herself on the floor in a fit of rage because I asked her to finish her lunch, and right after, she called me “bad momma” because I told her she couldn’t have a piece of candy, but at this moment, she’s crazy-happy to be helping.