Thursday, October 23, 2008

Ornery / Accepting

Yesterday afternoon I went with Ricki to buy her shoes for her sister’s wedding. She was in a rather ornery mood, as she often is when we shop. Usually she’ll do something a bit load, a bit strange, and little kids will stare at her. This makes her angry, she yells at the little toddlers who are watching her, and this collects an even bigger audience. She is getting better at all this, but very slowly…
We settled for a pair of shoes for the wedding, and then I decided to buy her school shoes for the winter as well. We were looking at blue shoes (there were brown and blue)- the color that would match her uniform. But since the first pair wasn’t pink, she didn’t like them, even though they were gorgeous and a perfect fit. So, a bit reluctantly, I let her try on another pair. She liked these. Now normally, I would let her have her choice, but this second pair had a strange type of closure that would not hold on to her foot very well. So I asked Ricki to reconsider. She wasn’t sure at all. Then I said: “Ricki, the choice is yours, but look and see how this shoe closes funny. Think about taking the other pair.” I was sure she wouldn’t agree, but amazingly she did. And in the end she was really very happy with them, putting them in place by her bed for the morning.

6 comments:

Batya said...

li'at li'at
slowly, but progress

and hse looks so cute in the picture in the previous post

Maggie World said...

I jsut received your comment on my blog (sfmaggie). I'm curious. How did you find me? I'm glad you did, but I'm curious.
Ricki is a cutie. She and Maggei are about the same age.

mother in israel said...

Mazal tov on the wedding.
Sometimes they do begin to listen to reason. You left her in control. Shabbat shalom.

Belinda said...

I am cheering for Ricki and cheering for you. I grew up in an age when we had to do things "because I say so," and to question the authority of our parents made us "cheeky."

It never made sense to a child and Ricki is so blessed to have a mom who has the patience and respect to teach her as she grows.

Anonymous said...

Yes, agreed with other commenters, your handling of the situation was the source for the nice outcome. You did not assume that Ricki could not understand consequences and you allowed her to think about the consequences of buying the shoes that do not fasten well.

So much in one parent-child interaction. Thanks for sharing.

(Could you insert a link to blog carnival in the top post?)

Jewish Side of Babysitter said...

that's very good she listened at the end and accepted. I can imagine what would of happened otherwise. She would have came home and become unhappy with the pair she would have chosen. after all the happiness of new stuff wears off, and then it just becomes whether it's useful or not.