Feathers are NOT Fun!
My dear sweet 8 year old son, Mr. Handsome, came to me looking very guilty. Storm Baby who is 6 followed him, only she had her hands over her ears. Both got very close and made me worry…
“Mom” He said. “I have to be honest with you about something” he added. Oh no I thought, nothing good ever starts that way. “We were having a party in my room and (Storm Baby) found a pillow with a hole in it and threw the feathers, and it was fun so I threw the feathers too.” He was looking very guilty. How bad could a few feathers be I thought. As I was thinking this over, practicing my peaceful parenting skills I thought to myself this was the price of a “quiet” morning and partially my own fault.
“All the Feathers Mom.” He told me. I noticed it then, the tiny feathers in his hair, and her hair and on their cloths.
Storm Baby was giggling, not making eye contact, and still had her hands over her ears. She knew she was in trouble but apparently it had just been that much fun. I was impressed she was even standing there and not hiding because of her part in it. She was there to own it and even if she couldn’t bring her self to speak, it meant a lot that she was even in the room. She is special, smart, and creative to say the least.
I thanked them for being honest and asked them to clean it up. I didn’t even go look at it at first because I knew it would throw off the whole day. I also knew there was no way they would get much of it cleaned up before Dad got home. We managed a few homeschool lessons that day and in the end Husband found them “cleaning” the mess, my throwing feathers in the air. It seems that doing so it a great deal of fun! Thankfully husband is into Crunchy Parenting as well and so he didn’t yell. He did though direct them more on the clean up.
What to do?
What a messy Trick to start October off with don’t you think?
So we made sure the sitter knew the situation and the little mess makers had to stay on task of cleaning it up. It will take days and days, specially as our vacuum cleaner isn’t working right now! Then husband took me out to dinner and a movie. It was a fantastic distraction! The kids are not complaining about having to clean up the feathers, and they understand it is all on them. They have both told me that they will never do it again! Goodness I adore them!
How much fun they had on Mom’s quiet morning may not be truly known until they get older and talk about how much fun they had throwing feathers in the air that day.