One Big Wild Rumpus

There have been so many words in my head lately.  I've started keeping lists again to get the words out.  Lists of things I want to remember to talk to Tim, my husband, about.  Lists of emails I need to send.  Lists of ideas I have.  Lists of lessons I want to teach my kids. Lists of things we need to do. So many words.


It isn't a bad thing, it's just a lot of stuff in my head.  So today I want to share someone else's words.  Maurice Sendak is an author and illustrator most famous for the children's book Where the Wild Things Are.  He died yesterday.  He was a pretty cool dude.


I was reading through his words last night and here are some good ones that resonate with me right here in this moment.  This moment of worrying if I am doing the right thing with my kids, wondering if there is a right thing with my kids. This moment of worrying about what to do with all my worries, maybe make a list.

This moment of extreme busyness and hectic-ness and wordiness.  This moment that will pass more quickly than I can imagine.

"Certainly we want to protect our children from new and painful experiences that are beyond their emotional comprehension and that prevent premature exposure to such experiences.  That is obvious.


But what is just as obvious--and what is too often overlooked--is the fact that from their earliest years children live on familiar terms with disrupting emotions, fear and anxiety are an intrinsic part of their everyday lives, they continually cope with frustrations as best they can.


And it is through fantasy that children achieve catharsis.  It is the best means they have for taming Wild Things."
-Maurice Sendak, author and illustrator


Oooh Mr. Sendak, I love those words.  Almost as much as I love these, which we say daily:

"Let the wild rumpus start!"
-from Where the Wild Things Are

We are good at the rumpus-ing.  It's one big old wild rumpus everyday in our house.