Sometimes it's good to actually listen to what your kids are saying. Take yesterday as an example. The kids were playing in the backyard and Mason started crying. He came in to get comfort from mom and I yelled out at Chase to leave Mason alone. Once sufficiently consoled, Mason went back outside to play. Only a minute or two later he started screaming again and came in to get more comfort from mommy.

Before going outside to discipline Chase we queried Mason about what happened. He is good at telling us where it hurts so we can usually find out whether he got hit with a rock, stepped on something painful or something else. After asking Mason what was wrong he replied, "Bugs! Bugs!" Emilie then noticed that his legs were covered with ants.

The kids had apparently found some anthills and decided to sit and watch the ants. While sitting on the hill itself. As we were brushing off the ants Mason had a moment where he shrieked like a girl and kicked his leg in a way that conveyed his true terror. For about an hour he seemed to be having flashbacks to that moment when he had ants on his legs.

We were sure he was going to be up all night because of his ant nightmares, but the next chance he had to go outside he went right back to the ants. I guess the old saying is true: you can brush ants off the legs of your kids, but you can't make them stop sitting on the anthill.