The past couple of weeks I’ve had “extra” children around fairly frequently and it got me thinking…
Why is it that adding a child or two actually makes things easier (most of the time?)
One
I get to sit down and write without being interrupted every five minutes!
We had our weekly Bible Study/ homeschool playgroup thing this morning and I kept a couple of elementary aged girls when everyone went home. Right now they are outside playing in the snow with Buggle and Mouse and the house is blissfully silent!
Two
My children are generally on their good behavior in front of their friends which means when I ask them to do something, they just do it. No arguments, no whining. They do it quickly and they do it well so they can get back to their friends!
Three
Everything gets eaten! Even if my children “don’t like” the food they will probably be extra hungry and eat it anyway. If they aren’t extra hungry they probably will still eat it because of Number Two.
Four
Creative stuff happens. Since our building materials are different than the ones the friends have at home they have ideas about them that my children don’t have. Currently there are four children downstairs building a town out of cardboard and masking tape!
Five
Friendships are built. Time together and mutually interesting projects are great relationship builders. I need time with my friends in order to be friends and so do my children. It’s neat to watch the friendships grow from “What’s your name?” to real love and relationship.
Six
Some Mom gets a little headspace. Sometimes it’s me when my children are at their friends sometimes it’s someone else when I take the extra children. We all need it and intentionally blessing each other with space is a great way to build our own friendships.
Seven
This happens at the end of the day.
Regardless of whose friends actually came over to play- everyone is tired and goes right to sleep! What better end to a day is there?
Wow, this was so interesting and gives me so much to look forward to as my kids grow older! My oldest is 2.5, so last time I kept a “friend” of hers (aka a friend of mine’s 2 year old) for a while, it made my day 100% harder and I kept slipping away into the kitchen to fight back tears, hah! But it sounds like it gets easier and even makes life easier as they get a little older, hurray!
It does get easier. I’d try taking your child to a library playgroup to help get her used to playing with other children. And toddlers will quarrel and make up constantly as they shift from parallel play to interactive play. Keep working on it!…K