Horse Play

I sat watching my boys wrestle on the floor in the living room while I waited for dinner to be done.  I began  to wonder why I thought boys were easier than girls.  It was loud.  Body parts were everywhere.  Kids would fling themselves around the room trying to escape their brother.  A split second later they were running at their sibling.  There was rolling on the floor, bumping into furniture.  Screams and laughter mingled with the grunts and groans.  Occasionally one of the boys would come to be crying because they got hurt.  I would tell them they were fine and they would immediately go back and play some more. 

I realized just how good it was for them to roll around and rough house with their brothers.  Not only were they exercising they were learning some good lessons.  First and foremost that its ok to get hurt.  I have a few boys that are pretty wimpy.  You'd think the world has ended if someone accidentally bumps into them.  This was teaching them its ok, you don't have to over react.  It was teaching them to be tough.    The ones that are really drama kings weren't when they were playing.   They were getting their rug burns right there with their brothers and not even noticing. It was almost as if they were learning how to deal with the pain in a way they couldn't before.

They were also learning fairness.  My 5 yr old learned that one pretty quick.  He was just fine dealing out the pushes and laying on top of his brother, but as soon as his brother did it to him he had to yell and come to me to complain.  I told him if it was fun for him to do that than it was fun for his brother to do it to him.  If it wasn't fun to get laid on then maybe it wasn't fun for his brother either.  It didn't take long before he saw that whatever he did was gonna be done to him, so he better play fair. 

By the time dinner was ready the kids had worn themselves, and the carpet, out.  I was impressed that just by letting kids be kids *I* would learn so much.  Letting kids be kids is good for them.