PRACTICAL PARENTING â—½ HOME
On a Mission
by Marcy Lytle
He’s got a blower in his hand, a weed eater in his “truck” and even a ladder and “worker guy” clothes that he wears when he’s on the job. This sweet boy is always on a mission to take care of whatever “yard” is before him. It might be the living room, the hallway or his bedroom. Or it can be his real backyard. It doesn’t matter if it’s real - he’s got the tools to get the job done.
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I love pretending with 2-year old Camp. From the moment he got these two yard tools for his birthday, he has been blowing and going, happy as can be. He also loves to pretend that we’re setting up an ice cream shop or store, or a restaurant serving the most delicious foods on little plastic plates and taking pretend sips from tiny multi-colored cups.
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And it’s now Christmas time. I have no idea whether or not his parents will tell him about Santa, or if Santa will be “real” or just a figure in a story. It’s not my business to know. But I do know that pretending and playing make-believe is part of kids and their growing up process. It gives them purpose in their little lives.
When they bring out the babies and put them in the tiny strollers and carry their little backpacks with a plastic bottle that doesn’t really pour liquid, these little kiddos are pretending to be parents. They’re mimicking their own mom and dad. They’re on a mission to becoming good parents like the ones they have.
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When they run around the yard and climb up in their playhouses, planting fake flowers and looking out tiny windows, and mashing kinetic sand in little boxes, creating and wishing and talking and playing with little figures in that sand…they’re on a mission. That mission is to think and create and enjoy life to the fullest without a care in the world.
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When they set up their stuffies against a wall and line up books for them to read, calling each bear and dog and penguin by name, as they read the stories out loud – well isn’t that the cutest!? The little future librarians or writers or animal lovers are on a mission to discovering what it is they love about reading and life and all things for their future.
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Camp was playing with one of his friends recently, and that friend’s mom captured both of them with yard tool in hand, stomping through a “forest” of trees and weeds to cut down, with the most determined looks on their little faces. It was the cutest picture ever.
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Sure, our mission in life as parents is to nourish and train and teach and love on our kids, but isn’t it also to encourage that make believe world where things are all fun and perfect and giggly and happy? That’s part of our mission too, as we plop down on the floor beside them to pretend play and then send them on their way…away from the harshness of the world…while we make believe all day.