For Thanksgiving, we met up with our friend Timmy in Fort Collins, Colorado. My cousin recently moved there with his family and my other cousin joined us as well. The days were lazy and low key. The weather was lovely.
Charlotte wore a dress on Thanksgiving that my grandmother made for me when I was her age. Seeing her dressed like I’ve seen myself dressed in pictures is pretty surreal. I found myself in this moment of gratitude feeling both connected to my childhood and defensive of my daughter’s childhood. There’s nothing like a comment about your child’s wild or messy or loud behavior that makes you insecure in unexpected ways. As an early childhood educator, I am familiar with the research and purposeful with my methods and approaches to parenting. Still, I found myself making excuses for behavior that I knew was developmentally appropriate and defending my parenting in a way I usually don’t feel is necessary. I guess it was a good reminder for me that Charlotte has been living in our society for less than 1,000 days. Her behavior will not always be acceptable. My behavior will not always be acceptable. In most cases, people usually don’t care as much as you think they do.
All Mountains and Molehills 