We’ve been having cookouts with family and friends lately, and it’s been lovely to dine al fresco and enjoy delightful company.  During and after such fun gatherings, I couldn’t help but notice how (relatively) well-behaved my kids were.  They managed to play nicely and still take some time to actually sit down and eat a meal without too much prodding on my part.  I was able to sit back more and observe more instead of being a hands-on, right-by-their-side-at-all-times mom. Such experiences makes me wonder if this could be the summer of the long leash…or at minimum, a slightly longer leash that last year.

Several younger, and adorable cookout guests under 18 months really helped illustrate the parenting and supervision required for little ones versus my preschool and 4K aged kids.  Long gone are the stages of toddling around uncertainly and slightly unpredictable behavior.  My kids ARE getting older and ARE learning how to listen and follow rules. YES! At last! It’s rewarding as a parent to be able to sit back and give them more independence, while being able to hang with the adults and actually have a longer and less interrupted conversation.

The summers of more hands-on, physically demanding parenting are behind us. The “summers of breastfeeding” my two kids seems like EONS ago! Last summer then became the “summer where I didn’t have to whip out a boob to breastfeed.” It’s the little victories, right?!

As I learned from a dear friend, and wrote about in Wise Words from a Super Mom,

“As your children grow, they become less physically demanding, and more psychologically demanding.”

These words could not be more true, and I can’t believe that I was writing about parenting getting easier even last summer!! Looking back, we’ve come so far as a family (and me personally as a mom). It’s one wild, rewarding journey that I’m so honored and blessed to be on as a mom.

Stay with me readers until next summer’s longer-leash post!