I Promise! It doesn't bother me....

I have a little bit of an OCD problem...it's always been there and I lovingly accept it for the most-part. One of the things that gets my anxious juices flowing is watching my son. He is eight years old and still gets food on his face when he eats, spills it on his shirt, lets his fingernails grow out and inevitably caked with various types of dirt, mud, and other microbes. It makes my skin crawl just thinking about it. On top of that, he "makes a fool" out of himself in public by dancing down the grocery store aisle or doing other acts of performance that cause me to look over my shoulder in fear of what onlookers might think of my child. As much as I try to lovingly parent him to "behave" or to have "good manners" at the table he does not seem to absorb my parental advice. Just when I thought that I was some how failing at parenting, I had an experience that changed my mind.

Many individuals go throughout their childhood without the opportunity to dance in the aisle or play in the dirt. When that happens it seems that the childhood light gets snuffed out and they end out on my couch talking about their childhood and how it continues to plague them into adulthood. As I sit and listen, I realize the joy that my son and daughters have when they "make a fool" of themselves, because they feel something. They feel like dancing, so they do. My daughters dress up as princesses, because they believe they are princesses. My son dances break-dancing (or at least his own rendition) and believes that he really is doing it. Who says they're not? The light in their eyes and the joy in their faces is enough to show that they are fulfilled, connected to themselves and their surroundings, and don't care what others think.

We can learn a lot from children...we should do as they do...