Some months ago, Polimom’s Adorable Child (AC) lost her temper and slammed a door as she exited. It wasn’t the first time — not by a long shot. I did, however, want it to be the last, so Polimom told AC that the next time it happened, the offending door would be removed from its hinges.
Ahem.
But that one was pretty easy. Less straight-forward have been the arguments about make-up.
AC: “Mom, everybody’s wearing it!”
Polimom: “You are not everybody! You’re eleven, and 11-year-olds have no business wearing make-up!”
Unfortunately, although everybody may not be wearing it, many of them are. I can’t count the number of little girls who’ve come over lately looking (to me) like miniature Alice Coopers.
Looks fine when it’s part of a Halloween costume, but it’s ridiculous for every day. What on earth are these parents thinking?
I wish they’d learn to say no, so Polimom and AC could find something else to argue about. I’m sure we’d fill the gap somehow…
I hate to say this, but maybe makeup is AC’s way of starting to experiment with being a grown-up — sort of like preening herself before leaving the next. How about, instead of flat-out banning it, you use this as an opportunity to teach her other important lessons (like no matter how much you dress up a steaming pile o’ poo, it still smells like… I’m sure you can think of other, related tales.
Oh, yeah, and btw mine of course is a boy. Thank boB.
~EdT.
Hi Ed! Nice to hear from you!
Yes… this is certainly AC’s (and all her friends’) experimentation with being more grown up. OTOH, so was playing dress-up at 2, and raiding my shoes (last week?), and wanting to push her bedtime back. Some of those are occurring at the “normal” pace (normal being fairly wide in range), and some of those are occurring bizarrely early.