Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Another Blog

My daughter dressed herself this morning. After all, she's nine and quite capable. She likes patterns, and so she paired a patterned shirt with a completely differently-patterned skirt, and even more differently-patterned tights.

After taking her to school in her outfit loud enough that it could announce its own arrival, I came home and read about another mom's decisive daughter.

Like her, I also felt like pinning a note to OC to explain the colorful outfit, thereby absolving myself of responsibility and still being a "good mom". But I was also proud of my daughter for doing exactly what she liked and feeling good about herself. I like that more than I cared about precise outfit coordination at age 9.

In the same post, it was this sentence that struck most deeply: "I want to bottle my little girl’s belief in herself and give it back to her by the pint when she hits sixteen."

--- Jessica, at Balancing Everything

Too often we are concerned with how we look rather than what it all means. There is a time and a place to look "acceptable", of course. But when our children go through stages of trying out their own thing, it's good to remember that it is good for them. Do not crush this tendency, for one day it will translate well when, for example, their own thing will be to come home and do their homework instead of hanging out in front of a convenience store with their friends.

Rejoice in all-patterned outfits! They're not so bad.

3 comments:

Mom said...

Picture, please. I want to see this outfit!

Jessica said...

:) I'm so glad this resonated with you, I love your comments!

Kristin said...

When my daughter was about 2 I moaned to a friend about how frustrating it was to have a closet full of darling Boden and Oililly and Baby Gap only to have a child who preferred to dress like a crazy hobo... She admonished me severely because my daughter is not her clothes or her outfits... it was and still is good advice.