Growing up there are certain phrases you hear a lot. Don’t run with scissors. Don’t throw balls in the house. No roughhousing inside. These tend to be a staple in any mother’s repertoire. I know they are in mine.
Regardless, I don’t really uphold them well. Except for the scissors one…don’t run with scissors…EVER!
Many a times I’ve let the kids play with their bouncy balls inside. It’s not until they start getting wild that I push for it to go outside. My husband has been known to bring a nerf football into the house and play catch with the kids. It doesn’t happen a lot, but when it does I don’t always uphold the “no balls in the house” policy. What about roughhousing you ask? This one we let slip the most.
We are a family that spends a lot of time roughhousing! Lots of tickling on the floor. Running, twirling, dancing. Throwing kids over a shoulder. Swinging someone around. I guess you could call it family bonding. It frequently fills the house with giggling, squeals, screams, and belly laughter. The kids ask us to do it!
Just last night we were all in the living room. It was almost bed time. Sienna (3 months) was getting a little cranky. I picked her up. You know how you swing a baby towards someone, like they are flying, and then pull them away? Well, I started doing that with the baby towards the kids.
Sienna was smiling big. She would close her eyes tight as she got close to the kids because she thought they were going to collide. Then she’d kick her legs in excitement. We were laughing at her.
The kids were jumping up and down making faces and trying to catch her. Then they were dancing around my husband. He went to pick Melia (4) up to do the same thing with her (airplane through the air toward the baby).
You know that moment when all the fun comes crashing to end?! Sometimes literally? That moment happened right about this point. Smash! My lamp was on the floor.
I saw it happening moments before it did, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. Melia’s airplane legs went back. The lamp teetered side to side…then hit the floor.
The laughter came to a grinding halt. Everyone wanted to inspect the mess. I was surprised that most of it stayed in big pieces. However, there were still tiny shards of glass everywhere.
The fun was over. Worst part? We had a mess to clean up. AND we scratched up the wood floor. Bummer!
While this broken lamp was definitely a family effort, I blame myself. I was the one that started it all trying to keep Sienna happy. It’s all fun and games until something gets broken.
I’m also pretty sure this incident won’t stop us from future roughhousing. It is just how we play. The center of how my family has a good time. So, probably tomorrow! Probably still in the house. We will just be more careful next time.
What is your roughhousing policy?