Petrea, our almost three year old, was given the opportunity to make the decision on whether she wanted a Princess party for her birthday or a Rock-N-Roll party for her birthday. She chose the Princess route (rats) - but, thankfully, has brought up the Rock-N-Roll idea many times since making that decision. Some have quipped that she is too young to realize what it means to have made a decision like that – but I am not convinced of that. Here’s why…
At night, PT has a sort of schedule. We go upstairs, brush her teeth, wash her face, maybe brush her hair, read “Corduroy Goes to the Doctor” then she wants a Princess story. (It gets good because she calls them Princess Petrea or Princess Daddy stories. Make all the jokes you want, I love it!) But, she pretty much narrates the story and makes decision about where the story goes; if the story is scary or happy, and, of course, when it ends. Even better than just making those choices, she sticks with them for the whole story and seems to realize that the choices made about, say, being in the forest or being in a field, have a large bearing on where we are at the end of the story. If Princess Petrea, Princess Soah, Princess Mommy, and Princess Daddy all walk through the forest and over the hill and swim through the river, she knows that you have to go back through those things to get back to Princess Petrea’s castle in order to get in bed. She also gets that if you swim through the water with a bag of candy, well, it’s gonna melt – so maybe we can find some stepping stones or a bridge…
Hopefully this is also teaching her about the consequences of decisions and what happens if you decide to dye your hair pink the day before school pictures. I am hanging on to this one to see how I do…
