Bounce Away....

Franki and I were in the party store, and as she eagerly picked a ball up to bounce it, I said out loud,(not just in my head),“Franki, don’t bounce the ball in the store, ok”?  With precision timing, a friend that I haven’t seen in a while appeared and said, “what fun would that be?  We are in a party store”!

I like having fun and I like to play and I like being silly, and in that moment, I was focused on something other than having fun.   The simplicity of her statement helped me recognize that I was operating on “auto-pilot” under the guise of some sort of a rule for appropriate behavior in a party store.  Here is this child, zealous about life, seeing every place as an opportunity for play, filled with delight at the sight of these balls, and I, the “reasonable and rule-bound adult” in her life, asking her not to bounce a ball in a party store?!?  I recognized the irony of what I was saying and I immediately grabbed a bouncy ball and bounced it myself.  There are rules to play by and there are socially acceptable behaviors to which we comply and live by, but in every case I want to encourage Franki’s play and love of life and mostly, her freedom within any self-imposed boundary that I or anyone else has established.  Every day I find myself asking this question, “how can I be more flexible” and every day, I give myself opportunities to be just that.  I know my child and I know that she’s not destructive or disrespectful of other people’s property and I know that in that moment, she demonstrated and provided me with an opportunity to be more flexible.  And why would I bounce a ball in a store, a party store of all things???  Because it’s fun.  Go give it try….