Sometimes It’s Cold AND Rainy–and That’s OK!

It’s 2:11 on Halloween afternoon and I just checked the Look out My Window weather app–it’s windy and rainy and I just saw three snowflakes! Not the perfect Halloween weather is it? And that’s when it struck me. It’s not perfect. Not even close to perfect. It’s actually more like  “add layers over your costume and jumble an umbrella around” weather. Yuk! (As a bonus however, teen and tween girls will be foreced to cover up all morally-questionable costumes!)

So what is a parent to do?

1) Frantically call friends and scan web sites looking for an indoor Halloween experience that might be closer to perfect.

OR

2) Say to your kids, “Weather didn’t quite work out the way we hoped this year. Better bundle up and grab the umbrella so we’re not too cold.”

Choice number one implies that we can and should control as much of our experiences as we can. It implies that the weather will impact our fun so we better change what we can in order to have this FUN that seems to be contingent on outside forces like weather.

Is that what we want kids to learn? Things have to be perfect to have fun? A little rain and cold is something to fear and avoid at all costs, like the Ebola virus? Rain ruins fun? Cold ruins fun? Can you imagine how crowded all the indoor places will be? Talking about ruining your fun.

Choice two is matter-of-fact. Sometimes things are of our control and  don’t go the way we want. And we have to adjust our expectations. Sure, you can fight the crowds at the malls to insulate your kids from the bad weather. I get it. Babies in strollers will not like this weather no matter what we tell them.

But if you have older kids, how about using this bad weather as an opportunity to teach:

1) Things don’t always go our way.

2) Experiences like holidays don’t have to be perfect.

3) We are in charge of making tonight fun anyway.

Maybe it’s just me, but the camping memories I have from childhood that are most vivid are from the nights the tent leaked, the weekend the ladybugs invaded, and the night the tent blew down.

Rain, sleet, and wind on Halloween are the perfect backdrop to celebrate an imperfect night– but one memory that might last into their adulthood.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

 Sometimes It’s Cold AND Rainy–and That’s OK!