This post is sponsored by Stonyfield Yogurt and Toms of Maine.
My kids love to be dirty, and I’m OK with that.
I have to remind them to brush their teeth. I have to remind them to take showers. I have to remind them to put on clean clothes in the morning. I’m not sure that my teenage son knows how to use deodorant properly. I have to remind them to eat a healthy breakfast. I’ve come to realize that this is just my life, I’m the one destined to remind my children to give a shit about the way the look when they leave the house.
I’m actually really glad I don’t have kids that take hours to get ready before they leave the house. I’m not a high maintenance girl, but it can take me 30-45 minutes to get ready to go anywhere. Even if we’re just going to Walmart, I feel the need to look “put together.” This has relaxed a lot over the past few years and I’ll actually leave the house without makeup and with my hair in a ponytail, but only if I know I won’t see anyone that I know. If I had a high maintenance child who had to be perfect before they left the house, I might just lose my mind.
I “think” I may have been high maintenance as a child, or at least that’s what my mom tries to tell me. According to her….
…I wouldn’t leave the house if my hair wasn’t perfect.
…I wouldn’t leave the house if my clothes weren’t perfect.
…I wouldn’t leave the house if she tried to braid my hair and failed miserably!
…I may have missed a few days of school because my hair wasn’t perfect and my clothes weren’t perfect!
…I was a hot mess as a child with unrealistic expectations of what “perfect” was for me.
I mean, what teenage in the 80’s didn’t want permed hair and big bangs? Um, have you seen my stick straight hair? I’m just so glad that perms went away with the 80’s because I wouldn’t stand a chance as an adult and I’m sure my daughter would be a hot mess too (she also has stick straight hair).
My kids love to get dirty. They like to play in the dirt, they like to climb trees, they like get sweaty when they play, and they don’t always take a shower every night. They don’t care about the clothes that they wear. They don’t care if their hair is a disheveled mess. They do however, love to get clean!
I don’t have to fight them to take their showers, I just have to remind them that they need one. I don’t have to fight them to brush their teeth, I just have to pass them the Tom’s of Maine Rapid Relief Sensitive Toothpaste and sometimes I actually have to brush my daughters teeth to make sure they are REALLY clean. I do have to toss the Tom’s Freestyle Boy’s Deodorant at my son before he leaves the house; otherwise he’d put it on AFTER he’s done playing football. My daughter’s only 7 so we haven’t started using deodorant with her yet, but we may start using Tom’s Summer Fun Tween Deodorant before her next soccer game to start teaching her healthy habits for the future. With Tom’s I’ll know my kids are getting clean with natural ingredients and no hidden toxins, no artificial flavors, no fragrances or preservatives, and with products that haven’t been tested on animals.
If you happen to see my family away from home and my kids look like little Pig-Pen’s, just know that they did in fact start the day clean and with a good breakfast of organic Stonyfield Greek Yogurt. They just like to play hard.
This post is sponsored by Stonyfield Yogurt and Toms of Maine.
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