A couple weeks ago, my son wrote a story. A whole story. On his own. Without being forced. I don’t know who was prouder – him or me. He was so excited and wanted to email it to his cousin so she could read it, and we agreed that he would dictate the first two pages to me, and he would type page 3. It was all going beautifully until he got tired and decided to shorten the last couple of sentences with abbreviations. 

I was naturally disappointed because I wanted him to show his best work to the world, but he was adamant that these abbreviations were adequate. At that point, I had a choice to make. I could either be okay with it or take over and redo it, but in taking over and overriding his creative process, I would be taking ownership away from him in the name of the final product. In this instance, it wasn’t worth it. I let it go.

My 3yo wanted to help me place biscuits on the tray. The rule was that they needed to have space to grow. Otherwise, the placement was purely aesthetic. I chose to let it go.

It’s time to get dressed to go somewhere, and one of my kiddos decides she wants to wear her shirt backwards. Does it really matter? Today, not so much. We let it go. 

I’m trying hard, when my kids take initiative and ownership of something, not to take it away from them in the name of what other people might think. There are plenty of times they do need to submit to our correction for legitimate reasons, so let’s try to otherwise give them space to explore.