Just Add Sunshine and Water
Have you ever had one of those mornings? The one where none of the kids like their favorite breakfast anymore and the juice “looks funny”. Maybe you haven’t even had a chance to make your coffee yet, or put on some real clothes. You’re breaking up a fight because the baby took a toy from sister and big brother is already elbow deep in an art project covering the table.
“Mommy, he took my toy!”
“Mommy look at this Pokémon I drew and cut out!”
“MIIIIIINNNEEE!”
“MOMMY!”
“MOMMY!”
“MOOOOMMMMYYY!”
Well sister friend, I see you and I have been there. In fact, I feel like I am there at the very least two days of every week. While I don’t have a magic wand to wave and make the crying, screaming and overwhelming demands of motherhood stop, I do have a solution for you.
Add Sunshine and water and watch the magic happen.
If it’s a nice day, have everyone get in play clothes, or heck, send out in diapers, pull ups, underwear, whatever you like! Get ALL OF YOU, yes you too mama in the sunshine. Add a hose, or a sprinkler, or water guns and start laughing and making a mess and MAKING your own MAGIC!
If it’s raining, head to the tub, pile them in, hand them some bath markers and draw your own sunshine!
My favorite water and sunshine memory came after it had rained for days and days. I’m talking, I don’t think we saw the sun for a good four days. My kids were so grumpy, tired of being cooped up in the house and no one was thriving. We were on the edge of survival and the cliff was coming, I could see and feel it. One thing you should know is that our yard holds water like it’s a job. The only thing I don’t love about my home is the excessive water holding done by my yard. So after four days of rain and no sun, this is what my yard looked like!
Normally, I wait for it to dry out so I don’t tear up my yard BUT this was an emergency. We needed some magic and I was going to have to make it. So I told everyone to stop what they are doing and head to the backyard immediately. We didn’t even take the time to change clothes or put on our shoes. Barefoot and fully clothed, we went to the backyard. My kids looked at me like I was crazy because this isn’t something I normally do. I headed out to our yard which we lovingly call “Swamp Ogan” after it rains and jumped and splashed around like I was a kid again, and you know what happened? LAUGHTER ERUPTED from the same two tiny bodies that had been non-stop fighting and refusing to even crack a smile beforehand. The baby was still confused, but he went along. I looked at my sweet kids laughing and said “ Are you going to join me?” Now, as I said, this is out of the norm so they definitely looked at me like I was testing them, that is until I smiled and splashed them all.
They jumped at me with all their might and we splashed, and slid, and laughed for a good two hours. We played puddle tag, who can make the biggest splash, had a water slide style contest and felt every bit of the magic. You know those moments when you look up and know you did something right? This was a whole two hours of that feeling. I took what could’ve been a rough day and made a memory my kids still talk about. I didn’t take them somewhere special, I didn’t have to send them to their rooms, all I added was sunshine and water. It’s a different kind of magic mama. One that you always have at your disposal. Even if you don’t have a sunny day, be the sun mama, make the sun. You can do it.
No, it won’t fix that they no longer like their breakfast. It’s not going to make them stop fighting forever. It’s not going to stop the endless questions and requests for Mommy for good. What it will do though, is create smiles, laughter and a memory that I guarantee your kids will remember. The day or days when nothing really felt like it was going right and instead of succumbing to the fighting and the overwhelm, you made your own magic. You got silly, got moving, got outside and let the rest fall away.
A new breakfast can wait a little bit, the toys can stay on the floor, the art projects can stay on the table (though maybe you make sure the scissors get put away…for safety of course. No need for any surprise haircuts later. 😁 ) Coffee can be made as you undress the kids to get outside. Everything will still be there waiting for you when you’re done and maybe, just maybe it won’t be as overwhelming when you get back to it.
Sunshine and water isn’t just a magic maker either. It can be a glue, a glue that reminds you all that you’re a team. Your home is the base and the people in it are your team. Arguments, fighting, complaining, the everyday demands of life, they can separate the team, They can cause a divide. When you add sunshine and water though, you come together. It fills the space in between and brings you back to the heart of things, each other. Each space is closed by a smile, a giggle, a tag you're it, a slip and fall on the booty by mom who maybe isn’t as balanced as she once was before kids.
Add it all together and you’ve made a someday “good ole day” Mama! The one the kids will look back on and remember fondly. A story they will tell their kids about one day. Even better, a memory they will choose to RECREATE with their kids one day. A memory told at the table when you’re looking back on your life. A memory you’ll tell them about when you’re missing their littleness once they’re grown and on their own. A treasure for your heart and theirs, always with two simple and free ingredients.
This article was written by Kaci Ogan.