Picking My Battles

I do not consider myself a pushover by no means.

But, there are things I allow my sweet son to do that I never thought I would. In our entertainment center, the bottom cabinet is full of games (i.e. Apples to Apples, Scrabble (my favorite), MadGab, Outburst, Battle of the Sexes, Yahtzee, and a few others I can't remember off the top of my head. In the last few weeks, Camden has found great joy in unloading the Outburst and MadGab boxes to play with the cards. He does not carry the cards around. He does not bend the cards. He does not put the cards in weird places. He simply holds the cards in his small hands and sorts through them after he dumps them out of the boxes. I do not know whey he is attracted to only two of the games in the cabinet. And, I'm not sure what is so interesting about these small cards. But, I do know that this little exercise makes him happy. After I allow him to play with the cards for awhile, he will move onto something else and I will ask him to help me pick the cards up. It takes me about 5-7 minutes to pick up and sort all the cards. Camden does help me pick up the cards.

Austin would like to move the games to another location out of Camden's reach (although I'm not sure where as we do not have any other storage areas available). He is tired of picking up cards and would prefer me to tell Camden, "no" when he begins to drag out the games. And, Austin believes that these are not toys for Camden and he should not play with them.

Sure, I would rather Camden not drag out these games everyday and make a big mess with the cards. And, yes, I, too, get tired of picking up and sorting cards. But, I choose to not let this bother me. This is a battle I choose not to fight with my little one.

I have come to realize - some things are important - and some things are not. Choose your battles wisely as some are not as important as others.