Raising Youngins

We dress for work. We dress for bed. We dress to workout. But do we dress to play?

I recently came to this aha moment that I wasn’t dressing for what I wanted to accomplish with my children. I would arrive home after work to immediately take off my jeans and bra (duh!) and put on sweats and a big t-shirt and want to sit on the couch – because I was dressing for couch life.

My kids got a trampoline for their birthday and boy did all my childhood memories of jumping hit me again. I’m out there double bouncing them, doing flips and playing booty tag.

In order to enjoy all these sweet memories I have to be in jumping clothes. I’m not wearing jeans or have my hair down. I’m wearing comfortable clothes that can tolerate a wrestle session on the trampoline.

My husband and I are striving to not be on our phone so much at night. We put them on the counter and don’t grab again until later. I was still dressing for couch life after getting home. I don’t want a couch life in the evenings; I want play time with my children.

So I’ve changed how I dress. I dress for playtime.

This means that I wipe off all my makeup, but on shorts or leggings and a shirt that I can play in and throw that hair on top of my head. Last night, we explored the flower beds by looking for worms and roly-polies. I double bounced the kids until I needed a literal breather break – wow I’m getting old. I dressed for play and play is what we did.

Tonight, dress for play so that you can play. Dress to hear your kids’ goodnight prayer be that they had a great night as a family. Dress to hear your little boy yell “that was incredible” every time his little body bounces off the trampoline. Dress to see your little girl touch worms and ask questions about how flowers grow.

This year I’m dressing to play.