My husband and I took our children to a local renaissance festival
yesterday. We spent a wonderful day. We watched shows, listened to live music
and ate yummy, overpriced food. The weather was beautiful and kid behavior was
exceptional. It would be a gross understatement to say that I was pleased.
One of my favorite parts of the day was the sharing. Busy
festivals don’t lend themselves to tremendous personal space. It’s hard to find
tables so food is frequently eaten standing and has to be eaten one item at a
time, for lack of extra hands. My kids are young enough that their attention
spans are short. They drop plates easily at the best of times.
As a result, we tend to buy our food at festivals in small
snacks and graze through the day, sharing all we buy as we go. And I enjoy it
enormously. What was born from function has become a wonderful little family
ritual. I suspect that we will continue doing so long after the need becomes obsolete.
Food isn’t the only area where sharing is necessary. Seats
can be limited, in general, so people are forced so squish in closer to share
inadequate bench space. Walking space is limited so people are required to pay
attention to those around them as they move, as to not bump. Lines can be long,
so people are required to “share” lines, as they wait their turn.
As a parent, it is my job to share many things with my
children. I share my knowledge and my wisdom. I share life lessons, strength,
and morals. I share my opinions on the world, hoping that they will grow in
open minded, respectful, intelligent and free thinking adults. You know… the
big stuff.
But we also share the small stuff. And I have to tell you, I
LOVE sharing the small stuff. I love sharing sodas and ice creams. Especially
when there’s only one spoon or straw. I love sharing chairs, even when it means
that my butt is half off the chair or my legs are squished under a 40 pound
wiggle monster. I don’t love sharing colds, but I do love knowing that I was a
source of comfort for my sick kid and the contagion factor was an acceptable
occupational hazard.
I read a lot of articles about parenting. Whether this is a
blessing or a curse varies from article to article, and day to day. Sometimes
these articles fill me with confidence and/or new information. Other times they
fill me with unnecessary doubt. When the topic of sharing comes up in articles,
it always takes such a serious vein. Psychologists and other such experts earnestly
discuss the ways to educate your child on sharing and how to handle it when
they aren’t sharing successfully. They talk about modeling the behaviors you
choose your children to emulate.
But I have never read an article about how much FUN it can
be to share. It’s a blast when it works. For dessert, we bought two “cheesecakes
on a stick”. Yes, it is exactly what it sounds like. A slice of cheesecake
placed on a stick and then dipped gloriously in dark chocolate. It’s heaven on
a stick. Divine. I held one and my husband held the other. We each shared with
one kid and I shared with my son. I would take a bite, and then hold it out for
him to take a bite. He grinned happily then waited patiently while the process
repeated. Not once did he grab between turns. The experience was more delicious
than the food, if that’s even possible.
My husband’s experience with our daughter was equally
positive.
During one of the music shows, my daughter clambered into my
lap to snuggle. When I leaned in to kiss her, she turned her head towards mine
and said “Mommy, I want to kiss you with my nose”. She pressed her little face
against mine and giggled. We must have stayed that way for at least 2 minutes. She
was the one who pulled back.
Want to know what I think? I think that if parents are to be
educated on how to make their lives easier, we need more resources on how to
have fun with our kids. We need to be shaken from our routines and reminded to
relax a little.
Hey, I need that reminder.
Don’t you?
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