Monster Cookies

You can stay inside if you want to.

Sunday, July 25th, 2010

I am not a lover of the outdoors. I don’t like to be out there in the winter, and I like it only marginally better in the summer.

Since I’ve had kids, I’ve had to suck it up a lot and be outdoors way more than I’d like to be, but the gain is worth it. My kids need to run around, get some fresh air, stock up on Vitamin D and tire themselves out.

But, if they don’t want to, I don’t force it.

As a child, my single mother worked full time, which meant my brother and I got to do outings, field trips and daycamps all summer. It definitely made the summer fun and busy for us, and I [now] know that it made the days way better for the adults to have all the kids out and about instead of cooped up inside.

I didn’t like being outside though, and I recall spending park days hiding under any shelter I could find - big tires dug into the ground sideways, slides, tubes, climbing structures with multiple levels, etc.

My brother and I also got to spend weeks with our extended family in the summer, sometimes with my aunt and uncle and sometimes with my grandparents*. It was a nice change of scenery for us, but I still have bad memories of being locked outside for entire days in hot desert heat at my aunt and uncle’s house. My 3 younger cousins, my brother and I would be outside for hours, in the yard with a pool and some toys. I don’t use the word hate often, but I hated that. My oldest cousin would sometimes try to break back into the house so we could all go in. It never worked.

Those are the memories that allow me to let Josh stay inside and draw instead of forcing him to play in the backyard with his siblings on a beautiful day such as today. I won’t force him out. I won’t lock the door. My kids can stay inside if they want to.

*Summertime at my grandma and grandpa’s house was heavenly. We could come and go as we pleased, play inside or outside, and my grandma would give us change to buy 5 cent candies and slushes from the store. We rode our bikes, went swimming at the town pool, rented movies, and sometimes even had sleepovers in a tent in the yard with our friends. On his payday, Grandpa would bring home KFC for dinner, and all the rest of the nights, Grandma would make a healthy dinner for us and whichever friends wanted to stay. Ah, I miss those days. Those simple, carefree, magical, wonderful days. <3 And I really miss my grandma.

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