Tickle Fights & Dance Battles
Life gets busy. Busy with jobs and kids and errands and responsibility. I’ve let life get so busy that sometimes I am ultra-aware of the fun that is missing. The fun that should be had with my husband and children gets lost in the hustle. I have put so much focus on making sure that we all get through the day and nothing is forgotten (somedays things are still forgotten) that I’ve neglected that critical piece of the puzzle that is balance. I do not want my life be a hamster wheel of work, errands and paying bills. There is more that God has offered us in this life than that. He wants us to enjoy his blessings, whether it is the people that he’s put in our circle or the beautiful places he’s put on this earth. He wants us to enjoy his creations.
My plan to bring the fun back with my kids is to laugh with them. I want to be their kind of silly. Everything is funnier to a child when an adult does it. My son loves to dance. He constantly comes home with new moves to show us all. It’s easy to get distracted by the laundry that needs to be done and the dinner that needs to be cooked but his moves matter to him, so they need to matter to me in that moment. So now, we all try to do our own version of what he shows us. My husband flossing brings us all to laughter as do many of his other dance moves. It’s such a simple thing but, isn’t it the simple things that bring the most joy. It’s like being tickled; so simple and so full of joy (or torture, I can’t decide). My son still loves to be tickled, so I’ve been trying to stop what I’m doing wrestle him to the ground, pin his legs between mine and give him that knee squeeze that renders you helpless from its tickle power. It’s good for him to see that we as his parents are fun and can be carefree, it brings out our likeness.
My daughter loves to read books and sing. Last night she asked me to sing an entire story in an old man voice. Do you know how much longer it takes to sing your way through a book? It feels like an eternity but, it’s probably not as big of a difference as I make it to be in my head. The real difference is that me singing it matters to her and THAT is what matters to me. Of course I had to ask what an old man sounds like. I can’t just come in hot to the scene singing in what I think an old man sounds like, no I have to get her reference so that it’s just right. Once our assigned voices were established she sang like an old lady and I like an old man and we laughed at each other all of the way through the book. This girl is a character and helps remind our entire family about the joy humor brings. She is always doing and saying things to make us laugh. How much of it do I miss when I’m hurrying on to the next item on the list? The list isn’t as important as her telling me that Costco is selling bags of poop (chocolate chips). It’s not as important as my son telling me that I’m not old because my face doesn’t look like his daddy’s.
My husband and I are a team getting our family through one day and on to the next. But that isn’t how life should be lived. Although, it may be necessary we should be having fun along the way shouldn’t we? More often than not I take myself too seriously. I annoy myself. But, when I am feeling lighthearted everything is easier. Teasing my husband helps make things more fun. When I make fun of him he laughs. We give each other a hard time and attempt to one up the other. It’s a small way that we bring joy into monotonous situations.
These moments bring our hearts together as a family. When I am able to let all of noise fall away, I am able to be exactly where I want to be no matter where I am.
Have you lost the fun? How do you try to get it back?
