inspiration monday: kids being kids

the inspiration

kristin cavallari

megan bird

shirt, jeans ~ b. (a resale shop)

shoes ~ Madden Girl, Opitz

earrings ~ hand-me-downs

scarf ~ F21

glasses ~ thrifted

nora bird

shirt~ b. (a resale shop)

jeans~ gift from Claire (Spinning Threads)

shoes~ Target

this weekend, we went on our third annual, aptly named, "chaos in the woods" camping trip. we go with two other families with children of similar ages to ours. all in all, there are six adults and eight kids, hence the name of the trip.

when we started, our oldest children were all just five years old, and the youngest was a baby. now, our oldest are seven, and the youngest (who wasn't with us yet on year one) is two. it's definitely chaotic, but always fun.

as the years pass, we have all given our children a little more freedom for the weekend. year one, we watched them like hawks, never let them leave our sight. year two, we let them bike around the loop of the campgrounds, but made them check in every time they started a new loop. this year, we may have given them too much freedom.

after being gone for quite a while, here are a few phrases i heard from various members of our clan.

~ (after being told to stay off any of the hiking trails, and only to stay on the bike trails) "we went hiking down a trail and we found a cave and a cliff over the river."

~ "we got to a fence that said if we went any further, we would be electrocuted."

~ "i know we were only supposed to bike, but we wanted to go hunting for bear nests."

i know that as a child, i did the same sort of stuff ~ and i also know that eventually we have to allow our kids to have some freedom. but that doesn't mean it's easy...especially when they are so honest to tell us everything they did wrong after the fact. is ignorance truly bliss when it comes to stuff like this? perhaps. will it stop us from continuing to allow our kids more freedom every year that we go? probably not. just as long as they know that when they are 16 and we are still dragging them along with us for "chaos in the woods 12", they might have to be the ones who are watching after us.

happy monday!

xoxo,

two birds