KID TIME

This afternoon my husband and I met each other in the driveway.........me bringing home the youngest from dropping off a friend and he bringing home the oldest from school.

You could tell it was Friday.

He was tired.

My kids were tired.

I am always ready for some downtime.

And so it was declared KID NIGHT.

At 5:30 the kids went down to the basement with a movie.

I brought down blankets and pillows and special treats.

I told them they had to eat ALL THEIR SPECIAL TREATS BEFORE GETTING DINNER.

This was just about the coolest thing they could imagine :) because usually it's the reverse.

I told them that it was kid night, showed them the stack of library movies, left them in charge and brought down a dinner of PB&J, orange slices and bananas.

Joe tried to interrupt them once, tried to join them and was rebuffed.  He was given the finger by Sofia - which pointed him back up the stairs, not the actual middle finger, just the finger that showed him that this, indeed, was KID'S NIGHT and that adults were not welcome.

I forget, sometimes.

I forget that the most magical moments of childhood, outside of the mystery trips and family vacations, were the moments spent with Amy and Megs and Matt in the basement.  The origins of KID TIME being my own childhood when so many moments were spent with my brother and the girls next door.  I never worried about what my parents were doing, I never felt neglected, I never thought WHY WON'T THEY SPEND TIME WITH ME?, I never thought that I needed them.............

It was KID TIME.

It was passing notes under bedroom doors.

It was "spying" on adults with notebooks and pencils, picking up phones when someone was on the phone upstairs........do you remember those days of holding down the little thingys on the phone while picking up the phone handle and then letting go so you could hear the conversation going on?  Oh my, did we think we were sneaky :)

It was playing "Statue" in the front yard.

It was four kids squeezed on one couch watching scary movies.

It was giggling and laughter and staying up too late.

It was "Ghost in the Graveyard".

It was lemonade stands and bike rides to Dairy Queen.

It was fun.

It was freedom.

It was my childhood.

And sometimes I forget.

I forget that I am no longer to be center stage in the memories of my children.

We are no longer parents of babes and toddlers.

We are parents of those who are getting bigger, growing older.

We are parents of those who need some downtime, those who need some kid time, those who are developing memories of their own.

And it's time to start loosening the strings, start to let go, little by little, letting them create their own kid time memories.

And those next door girls?

Well, they are still just slightly next door.

I love them.

I still know them.

I still see them.

And they are forever woven into the memories of my childhood and life.

What are your KID TIME memories?