Thursday, September 22, 2011

Readjusting Expectations

This morning, I asked Little Miss to get dressed.  She has the ability to dress herself, but that doesn't mean she does.  I usually dress her to speed up the process in the morning.  This morning, I added the Mother's Guilt and told her I'd be so happy if she got dressed at the same time I did.  So, she ran into her bedroom and came out wearing just red knit tights.  (No, there are no pictures of a topless girl with tights.)  I wanted to sigh and be disappointed that now I have to undress her to dress her again, that I wanted her to dress herself in the outfit I put out for her.  However, I remembered that my instructions were to get dressed and that's what she thought she was doing.  So, I readjusted.  I let her wear the tights (though I did add a skirt and shirt).  She felt proud of herself and it was somewhat helpful to have her be more productive.  Plus, it didn't rock the boat and she was more agreeable to brushing her teeth and taking her medicine. 

Also, she did see the clothes I put out after and said, "Oh, look, you had it all out for me."  So, she just didn't see the other clothes.

2 comments:

qunjuliete said...

What's funny about this story to me is that you are learning to do this with your 4 year old and I am learning to do this with my husband. . .

Shoshana said...

she got dressed...what's the problem Mommy? This reminds me of Yoash last week. I was running late so I asked him to get dressed (and I mean school uniform). He came up with a Super Mario shirt and his favorite green checkered shorts. Well, I did ask.

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