Part-time Parent

As I so often mention, I often teach preschool children's church.  And what's so exciting about it, is nothing is ever routine.  I don't always have the same group of kids, and even "regulars", kids I've taught for months, can still surprise me.

I just plain, love toddlers, too.  I get to be around kids ages 2-5, when the world is still new and they're still excited to be learning about it.  And, although I normally don't know them as well as I'd like, I feel such appreciation for the parents who trust me with their little ones on a regular basis.  For a couple of hours a week, they let me take on their role.  I feed their kids, help them to the potty, and instruct them.  And it's a responsibility I appreciate being entrusted with.

I knew this past Sunday was going to be a great lesson days in advance, when I saw the schedule.  I enjoy all the volunteers with whom I serve, but some combinations just work better than others, and I was very happy when I saw who the other two volunteers for this week were.  I ended up letting one of them lead the lesson, because it was one I wasn't sure how to teach dynamically.  (I'm better with puppets and funny voices, and there were no puppets.)

Though there were mishaps, as always, we ended up having such a great day.  Two things in particular happened that just melted my heart.

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"You can't have two fun parents..." ~ Claire Dunphy, "Modern Family"

I'm not a helicopter parent.  I don't spend every second with my child hovering over him, making sure he does absolutely nothing out of line.  Don't get me wrong; I don't let him stand on the furniture, or stick his fingers in the electrical outlets, or play with chemicals under the sink or anything like that.  But when he runs over like he's going to climb up the stairs, I don't immediately chase him.  I normally ignore him for a second, and he comes back on his own, crisis (and tantrum) averted.

And, so far, being a laidback mom has worked pretty well.  My kid's healthy, smart, and has had only a couple ER visits.  One was for a bad ear infection, and the other was when he took a bite out of a glass holiday ornament (but seriously, that really wasn't my fault).  But all in all, my little man has been doing pretty well.

My husband's like me, and most of our extended family takes it pretty chill as well.  The exception is my dad, who cuts the kids' food up so tiny he might as well run it through a blender, and thinks every sneeze warrants a call to the doctor.  We all give him a hard time for being paranoid, and he's convinced we're all dangerously unsafe.

So of course it would be at his poppa's house that my son got his first major booboo.

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