Whoops

I just wrote a mega-monster email to my friends. So...sorry about that (if you read both). I'm actually in a pretty happy place with my life right now. My boy is nearly day-time potty trained. My girl is re-learning the art of putting her own hair up. What more could I ask for (besides a giant raise and more time off)?

Speaking of putting her hair up, I should really make a list of things that Scooter could do in 1st grade that, after spending a year w/ her Dad, was unable to do in 3rd.

1. turn off lights when she leaves a room.
2. set the table for dinner.
3. put a headband in or put her hair up when sitting down for dinner.
4. start her own shower.
5. wash her own hair.
6. write a story.
7. do much of anything w/o being told.

I know I'm beating a dead horse, but seriously. This is a ridiculous list, and much of it is not so much whether  a 6 or 8 year old CAN or CANNOT do those things, it's a matter of if she thinks she can or not. We wonder why her confidence is down? Maybe it's because everything she did was re-done by someone else for the past year. Let's celebrate what she does. Let's push her to do more. That is what parenting should be about.

My mom raised 4 extremely independent, intellegent, and socially responsible women. She didn't do it by cutting us down at every turn. There are hundreds of photos of me where I look at them now and say, "Why on Earth did you let me out of the house like that?!" And my mom will say, "You BEGGED to wear that!" And you know what? I'd rather have a thousand "embarrassing" photos of myself in ridiculous clothing with poor hair choices than a constant, nagging feeling that whatever I'm doing today is not good enough or "right." Because as long as it's the best I can do with the resources I've been given, nobody can ask for better.