May Reflections: "Mother, may I?" "Yes, you may."

That spring Saturday all the kids in the neighborhood had been playing in our yard; climbing up in our tree fort, swinging in our old tire swing, building roads in our sandbox. After a while we organized a game of "Mother, may I?", but the older kids only said "Yes, you may" to each other, so that didn't last long. When it got close to lunch time, everyone wandered home and my younger sister and I were left alone - and bored.  We moped into the kitchen where mom was getting ready to make lunch. An idea struck! "Mom, will you play a game with us?" Her face did not show great anticipation, but she agreed. "Mother, may we make lunch?" Now we knew it would take longer for her to let us put sandwiches together, but she said, "Yes, you may." A few minutes later we'd finished our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. "Mother, may we eat outdoors?" A small smirk from mom was followed by, "Yes, you may." 

After lunch we wandered to the front porch, noticing how weathered the porch swing looked. Back to mom we went. "Mother, may we paint the front porch swing?" "Oh, girls," she started, then saw our faces. Very slowly the words came out. "Yes...you may." Squealing with delight, Barb and I dashed to the garage for paint, but couldn't decide between all the array of leftover colors daddy had stored there. SO, we wheeled all of them in our wagon to the front porch and proceeded to paint. Each slat would receive a different color! It would be our rainbow swing!


An hour later we had nearly completed our handiwork. The swing was radiant in the afternoon sunlight - reds, blues, yellows, a strange shade of orange, several odd greens, something resembling purple and even brown. And then mom came out to see our progress. There aren't words to describe my dear mother's expression as she sucked in her breath and stood motionless for several seconds. Afraid we had disappointed her we began to apologize, but she stopped us. "Well, no one else will have a swing like ours, now will they? And I was wondering. May I be the first to swing on it when the paint is dry?"  My sister and I said together, "Yes,  you may!"

As parents it's often easy to say "no" to things that could be answered with a "yes". Perhaps if we said "yes" a little more often, our children would accept the "no's" when we really need to say them.


May FirefliesDuring the month of May we are focusing on colors and butterflies. Almost anywhere you look you can see buds sprouting with color, flowers bursting open, butterflies flitting about, even the grass is greener! Enjoy our bright assortment of Fireflies' offerings this month! 


Also, we will be launching "Fireflies Presents" - creating a family evening of new memories.   We sincerely appreciate your sharing Fireflies with your friends by "sharing" our posts on FB and "repinning" them on Pinterest.   We don't take that support for granted.  Blessings as you create legacy memories through literature with your children.  Thanks again.