Monday, August 8, 2011

Blowing Bubbles in the Bathtub

Tonight during bath time, we discovered that the bath paints I bought on clearance didn't work, and Acorn wasn't into painting anyway.

So instead, we blew bubbles and poured water from one container to the other.

I was struck by this - funny, because it's not the first we've blown bubbles in the bath, or even in other parts of the house. But when I was a kid, both would have resulted in punishment. Bubbles were outside toys, so we didn't make a mess in the house.

Rules are funny things. Growing up in a house with a father who has sensory processing issues at best, and some sort of spectrum disorder at worst, we had a lot of rules that, looking back, had little rhyme or reason to them.

The thing is, those rules are so ingrained - so much a part of my psyche - that sometimes it's hard to break free of them even now.

But I do try - when my first reaction to something is "no" I ask myself why - what would happen if I said "yes," what would happen if I didn't yell.

And so, we blow bubbles in the bathtub some days. Once in a while we even blow them in the living room. I hope Acorn learns to blow bubbles sometime soon...and maybe then we can finally take them outside to play with us.

3 comments:

  1. Atta girl...be a rebel! I feel the same way!

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  2. Oh what a beautiful post. I often have to remind myself it doesn't matter what other parents let their kids do or not do that I can let my kids do whatever our family thinks is right for us.

    I love to ask myself "why?" when it comes to rules as well.

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  3. To be fair, there are rules we enforce right now because, at three, Acorn lacks a sense of nuance and it's easier to outlaw the behavior than to teach something he's not ready for. A good example is "no going up the slides at the park" because inevitably, he wants to go up when another child is going down, and neither of them have the concept of turn-taking figured out :)

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