No Kids Allowed

Another day without fighting. Hmmmmmm, I'm beginning to wonder who took my children and if it would be possible for them to just keep things the way they are. I kinda like it. There a still a few fights here and there, but for the most part they have been very good. The boys have taken a liking to going to the park. I go with them every once in awhile just to see what's going on. They spend the entire day playing and running. It is a much better influence than at home where they would more than likely be playing too many video games and then arguing about those same games. I was always leery of sending them to the park. I don't know what I thought was going to happen, knowing me I was just thinking that I am capable of taking care of my kids without anyone else's help. More than likely it was my husbands family's influence. They don't want anyone to know anything, ever. I always feel that I can't let my kids out of my sight for fear they might...umm...I don't know what I'm supposed to be afraid of them doing. All I know is I was never to let them go anywhere. And for the longest time they couldn't have anyone over to our house either. I got tired of the neighborhood kids constantly ringing my door bell and then having to make excuses as to why my kids couldn't play. I started to let them in and ever since they've played nicely together, for the most part. Sheltering your kids is fine to a certain extent and when done for the right reasons. If they are in a dangerous situation or you don't know where they are going to be you should tell them no. I never got a legitimate reason why other kids couldn't play with my kids. And when I finally let them they got along great. In fact they didn't fight with each other as much. It would have saved me years of frustration if I could have allowed them those freedoms from the beginning. I don't know why, against my better judgement, I was swayed to go against my gut instincts. I think I just want to please everyone and somehow in the process forgot that I should please myself too. My opinions matter and for someone to belittle my decisions and tell me I'm wrong when they are not the one who is here dealing with the children all day was not fair. It was so my fault. I was trying to make sure one person was happy and neglected to notice that the other six were miserable. Not that I don't want everyone to be happy, but spending all of my time and energy on making just one of us happy is counterproductive. I can do my best to improve our lives and situation, but unless an individual chooses to be happy there's not much I can do about it. Any who... I'm happy, the kids are happy, I think I might have to give this summer thing another once over before I declare it a gigantic pain in my ass...knock on wood.