Wednesday, July 18, 2012

VBS Highlights And The Mother-Daughter Thing





Vacation Bible School Highlights

The first night I held and played with two toddlers in the nursery from 5:45 PM - 8:20 PM, ages 15 months and 2 years. Oh, the sweetness and the energy! Around 7:30 PM they slowed down and since their cribs were back at home, they leaned against me awhile before getting their second wind. You know that hyperactive wave of energy that comes when a child is overtired? I pitied the parents because I knew it would be a rough night and a rough day the next day.

On night two the 2-year-old boy was visiting his father, and the 15-month-old girl was home with a teenage brother, catching up on sleep. I helped in the craft room instead, making stenciled, painted T-shirts with all three groups. My favorite pink cotton shirt that matches two of my dressy skirts and all of my jean skirts, did not get ruined. Not a spot of paint...even while helping preschoolers paint! God knows my needs. :)

Before the program starts the pastor has everyone go outside for a quick silly game. Last night he showed us three nylon socks--the kind old ladies wear under their polyester pants. He proposed that a child from each group put the nylon over their head and face like a bandit mask, and then try to suck pudding out of a commercial pudding cup, in a race to see who could consume the most pudding. Can you imagine this activity in the middle of a heat advisory?

I am trying to give thanks for this frugal Christian Missionary Alliance church that doesn't use air conditioning in most of the building. It saves them a ton of money I'm sure, to send over to missionaries and for benevolence funds at home. They are doing the right thing and my priorities are all wrong. I wish I had the chops to turn my air off at home.

We have become a massively air-conditioned country, whereas previously it was only used in hospitals and a few other public buildings. In the past, people slowed down more in the summer and workers didn't have to wear suits this time of year. Neighbors visited more as they spent summer evenings outside.

I am working on getting back to our country's frugal roots. Just as soon as these heat advisories go away....

Anyway, back to those nylon socks and that pudding.

Guess who volunteered for the K-2 group? Yes, my Mary! She is brave and funny and so independent. My husband, Peter and Mary can stand the heat pretty well, but Paul, Beth and Mommy are heat wimps. You couldn't pay me enough to put a nylon over my head on a nice day, much less a heat-advisory day.

I am proud of her independent spirit, except when she insists on wearing a pretty bathing suit one size too big, just because it's pretty and she wants to show everyone how pretty it is. We have one that fits her, but in her opinion it's too plain. So I sent my five-year-old daughter to VBS for water balloon fights in a too-large bathing suit that sagged at the bottom and at the chest.

Oh, I was embarrassed all right, but at this church there are a couple of little girls who wear whatever they pick out themselves, even if it's the wrong season for the outfit. Often, one part of the outfit is for summer and one part for winter. Sometimes the outfits are too large and sometimes they're too small. These mothers pick their battles and clothing isn't one of them. So I thought Mary could get away with her streak of bathing suit independence on just this one night. 

Usually I give her three acceptable choices as to outfits, but we only have two bathing suits so I shot myself in the foot for not looking harder.

So we're driving home and I ask her how it went with the bathing suit (I was in the craft room the whole time). She said that one of the mom helpers tried to fix her bathing suit so that it fit better. But Mary told her, "Oh, it's no use. It's just too big."

Mommy:  Did you tell her that you're the one who insisted on wearing it? That you wouldn't listen to your Mommy's opinion? 

Mary:  "No, I didn't say anything like that."

Oh...mothering girls. They're so sweet at times, aren't they?

Something tells me it won't get any easier from here on out. Five just might be the age for the mother-daughter thing to start in earnest.

God help me.

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