Independence and Responsibility

There has been a struggle in our house lately. All of a sudden Littlemiss is doing lots of things independently. In a matter of weeks she started putting on her own shoes (minus the ones that buckle), can unlock and open doors, throws away her trash, and fights to do things on her own. Call me crazy, but I love her will for independence. It does make my life a bit slower as she takes twice as long as me to put on her shoes, clean up her toys, bust her dishes from the table, and to do everything else. It also has us a bit concerned for Littlemiss's safety, since for awhile there she was waking up at 5:30am and roaming or house unsupervised. I felt like locking her in her room was not appropriate, so we trained her with an owl that turns green when it's time to get out of bed. It was two mornings of pure hysteria and crying because she couldn't get out of bed yet, but now she happily walks out of her room and brings us her owl when it turns green.

I have a chore chart in the works and am excited to teach and train her to do more on her own. I am hoping to take this will for independence and start teaching her responsibility. I started teaching her how to bust her own place at the table and so far she can carry her plate to the sink, throw away her trash, wipe down her place, and push her chair in. I do stand there cause I have to hand her the sponge, etc, but she is still learning. My next goal is to have her learn to "make" her own bed, which is going to be a sacrifice for me cause I am type A about how I like her bed made. It will be a growing experience for both of us :)  

I am reading the book Parenting with Love and Logic written by Dr. Foster Cline and Jim Fay. So far, I absolutely love it! It is changing the way I look at and parent Littlemiss. Here's a little excerpt from the introduction, "Effective parenting centers around love: love that is not permissive, love that doesn't tolerate disrespect, but also love that is powerful enough to allow kids to make mistakes and permit them to live with the consequences of those mistakes. ...And those consequences, when accompanied by empathy--our compassionate understanding of the child's disappointment, frustration, and pain--hit home with mind-changing power."



TA DA!!!