Fun Reflection Friday...

Maguillacutty's biggest concern with homeschooling is that she would miss out on "Fun Friday" - something she had every Friday in preschool.  I told her that Fun Friday is only something they have in preschool and even if she went to public school - she would no longer have "Fun Friday"...but I told her the cool thing about homeschooling is that we can still have it! She was pumped...so today was our first attempt at it...and I thought I was gonna have to have a drink with my lunch.

We were invited to a wonderful Cinderella play at the Shakespeare Festival at DeSales University with some friends...all 3 girls loved it...I laughed out loud at some parts. It was really fantastic - they did a great job of drawing the kids in while throwing out some adult humor and songs.  We got all the actors and actresses autographs afterwards - Foo Young screamed at the Stepmother (who, by they way, was really a man)...but other than that, Foo loved handing her paper to everyone...she had no idea what was going on really...just following the others...it was cute and I wish I had gotten a picture of it.

Getting the Prince & Cinderella's autographs...

 Afterwards, we headed out to a pizza place for lunch with our friends....this is where the crap started to hit the fan - they finished their food and while myself and my mom friend tried to have a conversation about life...they kids were out of control...at one point, I looked behind me to see my 2 oldest sitting on top of a table....I thought my head was gonna explode.  Luckily, we were in the back room and no one else was sitting there - all other customers were in the front section of the restaurant. But, seriously - there must have been crack in the food....running circles, screaming and no one listening to me.  I felt like I had absolutely no control - instead of trying to continue to talk to my friend- we just packed them up and said goodbye...it was as if they had never been in a restaurant before.  And I was so upset that they would do that after such a wonderful time at the play....something we don't do a lot....something so special.  Anyway...we got home and to rest time it was...for all 3 of them...they got it too - the older two knew I was upset because they apologized. 

Then at VBS...I volunteered tonight in Whippersnappers class - it was a lot of fun.  I enjoyed having some one on one time with her.  But, I took notice to other kids acting out and just running around and their parents being present and allowing it to happen...and then Whippersnapper just crashed around 8:10pm...I couldn't get her out of the funk and I wasn't going to allow her to ruin the remainder of VBS for the others...so once again - I packed it up and we left 15 min early - I told her in the car, you can't act like that and expect to be able to stay and participate.
But, it started to make me think and question my parenting.  Am I too hard on my kids?  Do I have too high expectations for a 2, 4, and 5 year old. Am I too strict when it comes to how they act and with what/how I feed them?  And after really "reflecting" and talking to the husband tonight - we agreed...NO WAY! We do not want our kids to think that the world revolves around them...we do not want to coddle them...we want them to fail and fall and then figure out how to get back up and succeed - on their own.  We want them to be independent strong minded women - who aren't afraid of taking the hard route...because life is hard and full of challenges.  I don't want them to ever think "if I can't do this...I know Mom and Dad will help me" - no way - we love them too much and I hope that one day they understand that...I'm sure they will after years of hating us. But I guess - that's just me and the hubs taking the hard route...because it's the right one...in our opinion.