Novelty Inspires Harmony

My children get along fairly well in comparison to stories I've heard and advice I've been given.  But even the happiest of children can get on each other's nerves when they're bored.  My children aren't old enough yet to come and complain to me, "mom, I'm bored.  There's nothing to do.  All my toys are old.  Can I watch T.V.?"

It's not hard to tell, though, that things have dropped dramatically on the interesting scale when my two children get in fights over the most minor of things and can't seem to occupy themselves with anything for longer than five minutes without some sort of sibling-based altercation.

Yesterday, the weather was clement, with a nearly-cloudless sky and perfect temperature and humidity for outdoors play.   I packed my two a snack and we went off to the a local eco station and outdoor classroom.

We arrived and had to walk down a winding path through the woods to get to a natural place space designed for young children.   When we arrived, all I had to do was sit back and watch my children play together—happily—for the next two hours.

There was no crying.  There was no complaining.  No one yelled at the other and they were receptive to each other's suggestions on what to do (mostly imagined things) and how to do it.  I read emails on my phone.  I called my mother.   I checked emails again and even had a lengthy text-message conversation, without having to step in or say a single word to my children.

Children need to have different experiences.  Sometimes as a parent, it's hard to work in those experiences while you're trying to get everything else done at the same time, which is okay.   But it's fun to see the what happens when you can.

The Big Boy Update:  I didn't hear the start of the conversation in the back seat so I don't know what the topic was, but I did hear my son tell his sister, "I know how because I'm trained."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter got bitten (or is it stung?) by some ants yesterday at the nature center.   They were itching and she was quite unhappy as we headed to the car where I keep some topical medication for itching.   After we had rubbed it all in and started on our way home she told me, "mom, I need some more E-time medicine."   It took me a minute to realize she was trying to say, "antihistamine" and that that's what I'd been referring to the medicine as.   When we got home, I applied more, "E-time" medicine to a bite we missed and she was fine.