I let my kids make messes and get dirty playing in the mud and grass. My moms side if the family has very different opinions. Sister has wholesome epiphany.

Growing up my dad would let us go crazy getting dirty and making messes in the house because it could always be cleaned up and he taught us how to clean the messes. Thats why we loved being there.Now that i have 3 boys i raise them similarly. Let them be kids!My mom and half sister (different dad) are clean freaks and being in either of their houses feels like being in a museum. Look, but dont touch. She has 3 daughters about a year younger relative to my 3 sons.We were both visiting mom one day when she saw how much fun my sons were having playing and not caring about getting dirty outside while her daughters were trapped inside hooked on iPads.Thats when she said it, she told me she looked up to me because i let my kids be kids and make messes. Years of meanness and criticism halted with her one compliment. I told her my logic behind it: “messes can always be cleaned (and you can teach them how to clean it).”Today she is still reluctant to let her daughters make a mess, but she’s a lot more relaxed than when she had her 1st kid.Turns out, my mom never taught her how to do laundry or dishes or anything outside of school stuff. She didnt have my dad who taught me all that stuff. She was the firstborn “princess” of the family who, even when she was married in her 20s, still brought her laundry to my mom’s for her to do.I pieced the puzzle together. Makes sense. We have a great relationship now. As my kids have gotten older i’ve given them the responsibility she had been putting on her kids at a younger age while she has been letting her kids have more freedom. We finally understand each other and can laughingly talk about kid stuff.Moral of the story: let your kids be kids. Dont shove iPads in their face so they dont act like kids. And most importantly learn from your childhood and raise your kids accordingly. Just let them play and know that you AND your kids can work together to clean up the messes and do the laundry and dishes and whatever else needs to happen at the end of the day. via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2Nb4fJS