Destruction

It has been a gorgeous fall here in Oregon.  We have had spectacular sunrises three days in a row.*  The beauty of the blue skies this week and the vibrant fall colors and the crunchy leaves on the sidewalk have literally taken my breath away a few times.  This is why I'm a proud Oregonian!  I don't remember fall ever being so gorgeous before, though.  Normally I'm not a huge fan of this time of year, although I love the colors of the leaves.  I usually am too torn up about the cooler weather and school starting to appreciate the beauty of the trees. But I'm changing that because obviously I've been missing out. 

My boys have been playing outside a lot this week.  I am sitting here on the couch paying bills and watching them launch large outside toys off the slide in our backyard.  I've been thinking a lot lately about letting kids be kids, and in my case:  letting boys be boys.  I can guarantee people will get hurt and toys will get broken during this adventure.  Should I stop them?  I already yelled at them 15 minutes ago for breaking most of our Halloween decorations in the front yard in their quest to re-decorate for the 100th time. I hate ruined things and messes.  You have no idea how much I hate messes!  Anyone who knows me knows I like order.  But somehow I got creative kids and they can't be themselves if they are clean, tidy, and don't touch things.

And don't get me started on their incessant climbing.  We went to the pumpkin patch this week and I had to tell Buddy (almost 8 years old) 4 times in a matter of a few minutes to GET DOWN off of different things that weren't "safe" by my standards to be climbing on.  But then I'm not sure about my standards since I'm scared of heights.  The last straw was him climbing on the TOP of the play structure's monkey bars.   I told him to get down and threatened to leave since he wasn't listening.  But then I stopped myself.  It was a play structure, after all.  I pretended like I was reading my magazine to avoid all the horrified looks I got from all the parents the rest of the time we were there.

What's a mother like me to do?  Seriously!  Give me some advice here, please!  Should I allow them to break things and climb to unsafe heights, or should I continue to harp on them so they turn out like me?!  Or is there another solution I can't see here?

*  The sun rises late this week.  Don't worry I'm still not an early riser!  Come to think of it, I think this week is the first time I've ever seen a sunrise...  In my life.  No wonder I'm so impressed!