Today, Lexi was quizzing Peyton. She had a preschool paper that had all the students’ first and last names on it. Lexi was saying the last name, and Pey had to say the first name. It was quite impressive that she said 80% of them! Lexi and I were cracking up! I don’t think every preschooler knows all 30 kids first AND last names in their class, but she has always been so observant. Ms. Lee (her teacher) said they were all laughing one day because every morning they say "Good Morning _______” to each kid…and Peyton piped up and asked “Can we say last names too?”. This kid…I often wonder if I have the tenacity to raise her right!
Lexi is such a responsible girl. I worry that she will almost take it to an extreme though! I often wonder what she’ll be like next year, with a different teacher. Mrs. Stone is absolutely wonderful, but I also think her very high expectations rub off on Lexi – which is good and bad. In that same vein, she has a deep paranoia of being late for school every single day. She has been late ONE day in two years. And that one day was because Tucker took my keys to work…my sister had to pick her up late for me…and she got so nervous about it she threw up everywhere. Since then, she easily gags in the morning and has really had to work on mind over matter. I try to do a good balance of talking her through it…and ignoring her so she can get less emphasis on it. Sometimes I’ll cover the clock in the car so she can’t watch it the entire 8 minutes to school. So funny how different personalities are because if I told Jordyn she could miss a whole week of school, but she had to call her teacher and tell her she couldn’t make it this week…she’d jump on it with no stress at all! Not that she’s irresponsible at all, but she has a very different form of motivation than Lex. If I told Lexi she had to miss a week of school, I’d have to hospitalize her!
Jordyn is such a talented girl. She loves lots of things…and is really good at a lot of things. She also struggles with the “that’s not fair” syndrome over lots of things. I’ve had to battle this softball season more than I had wanted to. I gave all the girls the option of softball…with NO pressure. And Jordyn & Pey picked to play. It’s a pretty short season, and great weather season too. Peyton has complained a lot more than Jordyn. But Jo has been wearing down as the season progresses. So tonight, Jordyn had a make-up game to replace a rained out game. It has rained a ton the past two days so she was hoping it would get canceled, but no such luck. The whiney, fit-throwing Peyton was happy because her practice WAS canceled. So Jordyn begrudgingly got ready for the game. Frustrated that her shoes weren’t tied enough (one of her common issues), her hair was too loose, she was getting mad at everything and kept focusing on how NOT FAIR it was that Pey didn’t have to play…and essentially said that she’d be a lot happier if she didn’t have softball. So we had a little talk. I really wanted her to understand that, in life, there is ALWAYS something hard or unfair. There are always things you don’t feel like doing! But if you push through, there is always something good on the other side. I told her she’ll never hit a home-run from the couch!
As a mother, I find it to be such a delicate balancing act between encouraging, pushing them to endure hard things…while also listening to their feelings and letting them make choices. I won’t force them to do things, but once they commit to something, I definitely want them to see it to the end. I think a big part of why I struggle with it is because I’m often not in the mood to battle…or don’t have the energy for it! With Peyton, it can take LOADS of energy to endure her moody, opinionated struggle before something (like softball practice, for example) but once she is actually there and on the field, she is fine!! But who has energy to do that ALL the time!? I know I don’t…but the other choice, as a mother, is to let go of those types of battles…and have them possibly not learn determination or follow-through. I think some people are naturally more determined than others, so some children don’t need to learn, and re-learn, that lesson quite as often. *sigh* Hopefully through the tears and complaints, they are still hearing 10% of what I’m trying to teach them :-)
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