Friday, June 08, 2007

My Mistake

I've always been the kind of parent who coaxed and convinced rather than imposing my will on my children. I've cheered each small step of independence, encouraged their autonomy. Now I'm starting to realize, when there are thirty minute battles over wearing her outfit backwards to school, that I've made a terrible parenting mistake.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is ironic that as we attempt to raise independent thinkers/learners we cripple ourselves a bit.

At least you can get her to put on clothes, forward or backward. ;)

abebech said...

Ah but Dawn, I cannot always get her to *keep* them on. We're hoping this is normal :)

Unknown said...

Does it matter terribly if she wears her clothes backwards? Honestly just asking. How old is she?

Maybe let her wear them backwards, find out that doing that results in being teased, and let her learn the value of wearing them forwards?

abebech said...

Ordinarily we are totally okay with backwards (I think that was the problem). But today was a little spaghetti strappy shirt that should have been half way down the back but higher in the front, so the reverse was, as she says, "Nudey."
We sort of compromised eventually, and she wore her shoes on the wrong feet.

abebech said...

She's two and a half and now that the moment is passed, I can say she is the most fantastically free spirit I've ever known.

MomEtc. said...

My DD has always been fiercely independent and I want to keep her that way. So, I'm not too big on imposing my will either. Maybe I should even just let her wear her pajamas to daycare if she wants to.

Anonymous said...

LOL Errors? Ummm, yes, haven't we all! As Dawn said you are lucky she will even wear clothes. I have a three year old who cares very little for ANY sort of clothing and even less about where she is when she takes them off.

onegreyhorse said...

Hmm I'm in your boat. I too have felt it a much better path to give my daughter some leeway and sort through things in a non-confrontational way. It too has backfired on me... and yet I am still finding it hard to be a bit more... assertive...