Too Young to have an Opinion

The last few days when I try to get Nev dressed she has protested a pair of pants, a dress or a shirt. I almost didn't win this morning trying to get her dressed for church and held my ground because it was the last piece to her outfit and we were in a time crunch.

I admit, I love the different ways a child's personality emerges, but at the same time it can be exhausting and cute.
I have heard myself comment to her as she walks away from me half dressed saying, "no," to me that "you are too young to have an opinion on what you wear."

But really she's not.

So I usually give in to a switch, these liberties are small and unimportant and yet give her a sense of control that is an important skill for kids to start learning. She often tries to put on a pair of pants or a shirt by herself, this is more than her older brother does, so I am apt to encourage her to get this skill down, one less thing for me to have to do. :)

Tonight when Gary was trying to get her ready for bed he remembered me telling him that she has preference and likes to exercise it, so he let her pick her own jammies. He told her to "go show Mommy," and called from the other room that she'd picked her jammies. She was so proud of herself when she came in to show me her outfit, a pink long sleeve shirt and lime green shorts. Looked comfy enough to me so we put her to bed in it.

Click on over to see what I did to "save" a pair of her favorite pants.