Splish splash

Against my better judgment, I let my kids run wild in the street. It has been raining a lot lately and we are all going a little crazy from being cooped up in the house. (Boy, I am already not looking forward to winter!) Every time we even walk from the house to the car (which is only about 10 steps!), it takes every warning and scolding to keep Ethan and Emily from splashing in the puddles. Maybe I am being too harsh, but I know they would both be miserable if they were soaking and then had to sit in the car in wet clothes. But finally I gave in.
This afternoon, after it had stopped raining, I told Ethan and Emily to get their rain boots on and we'd go for a walk. We all just had to get outside. As soon as we were out the door, Ethan immediately ran for the first puddle, and SPLASH! Emily saw the fun and joined right in. We spent the next half an hour hunting for puddles in our neighborhood, all of which needed a good splashing. It was pure innocence watching Ethan and Emily awkwardly run down the sidewalk in their cumbersome rain boots, jump, splish-splash, and then move on in search of bigger, better puddles. And of course, both of them got soaking wet. As we circled back home, Ethan realized that the best and biggest puddles were actually in the street, and of course, he wanted to play in them. I gave a sigh, knowing that any responsible mom would say, "Absolutely not. It is too dangerous!" but as I already said, I gave in. Ethan and Emily were absolutely giddy. They ran through the biggest puddles, giggling and smiling, splishing and splashing. Now, of course, there were no cars coming down the street and I was vigilantly watching each direction, but I just enjoyed watching my kids. And part of me realized that it is OK to break the rules sometimes. It was an afternoon well played.