Today, as my not yet 2-year-old daughter was running around the house, climbing into her baby sister's exersaucer, my mother-in-law couldn't keep her eyes off her. "Careful," she says, sitting on the edge of her sit, ready to jump up might she climb on the coffee table or stand on the kitchen chairs.

Little does she know that during the day, my monkey of a daughter climbs onto the kitchen table, over chairs, across the couch, stands on the coffee table, attempts to climb up the book shelf, yadda yadda yadda. All day long. Her energy is so exhausting to even watch! And you know what? I let her.

When she does all these things, I don't watch her like a hawk or repeatly say "Careful, careful." Nah. I just let her do it. Even if I didn't have to divide my time between her, my 3 month old daughter, a house that never seems to get any cleaner, a mountain of laundry, work to catch up on, blogs I want to read, and everything else, I still would let her.

Why? It's all about natural consequences and finding a balance in life. If she climbs on the coffee table, what's going to happen? She might fall? Hardly, she's quite the able climber. But if she does, that's the natural consequence to climbing on it. If she grabs a handful of sand after I've told her repeatedly not to throw it, explaining whys and hows, and she keeps doing it only to get some in her eyes, that's the natural consequence of throwing the sand. These are things that are important for her to learn.

I wouldn't let her do anything too dangerous, obviously. My chest still tightens anytime I see her at the top of a slide. But she does need to learn and experiment with the world around her. That's important for a child's development.

Plus, it makes us all happier. I don't spend all day telling her what she cannot do, she doesn't spend all day fighting me because of it, and it's all good.

If only this solved her pouring her drinks on the floor...