Would you PLEASE just let them have fun now?

Evening/morning/afternoon fellas,

The other day I went to see my friend at her place and of course, Ar was with me (hubby dropped us off). Ar was playing in the little backyard, while we chatted and sipped tea. By the way, have I ever mentioned to you how much I LOVE tea? No? Well now you know. :P So, she was playing when my friend noticed something and so did I. I always thought/believed the opposite of what we noticed.

I guess I'll stop with the suspense for you now (that was fun though),
the thing we both noticed was that I didn't like Ar getting dirty. WHAT? I know, I know. I studied ECE, I know (almost) everything that's got anything to do with children. I am supposed to let them get dirty, I am supposed to let them have fun. And that is what I believed I always did until today. So what if they get dirty? They can take/be given a bath/shower, their clothes can be washed. But if you don't let them get dirty, they are not really having much fun. I know all of this and I believed all of this and I thought I did all of this, until my friend observed me.

What was happening was that Ar was playing and falling down (obviously), and I kept wiping her clothes off right away. I didn't know I was doing that (well of course I did, but you know what I mean!), until my friend said, "You really don't like her getting dirty".
I was like huh?
She said, "You keep wiping off her clothes",
and I was like "yeah, I don't want her clothes to get dirty".
She said, "You have to let her get dirty!"

Got it from pixabay.com

We chatted and drank for a bit longer, until it was time for us to leave. We left, came home and asked hubby, "Have you ever noticed me wiping Ar's clothes off frequently, when we are out and she's playing?" Surprisingly, he said no. I was confused and was trying to figure out what happened?

I knew I would want her to have all the fun in the world, I would never limit her to anything unless I feel she's in danger. So, I analyzed the whole scenario and finally came up with the conclusion. I thought that maybe I did that at my friend's place because she was wearing some fancy clothes (how cute), and I didn't want her clothes to get dirty. I really don't care if she rolls around in dirt, splashes in puddles or does other crazy things to get dirty, I always want her to have fun. So the moral of the story? Don't put on nice clothes on your children if you want them to have fun and if you are putting on nice clothes, don't take them to a place where the will/can get dirty. :P

Got it from pixabay.com

LET THEM HAVE FUN!