Last week, Ava celebrated her first hundred days of school. They had a special party and each student brought a poster with 100 collected items. After much deliberation, Ava decided to count popsicle sticks. We bought the poster and the glue (we already had the sticks in our craft closet), and Ava went to town.
Let me just say, it was an interesting experience. Despite the teacher's direct instruction that parents are NOT to help the kids complete the project unless absolutely necessary, I spent the whole time fretting and moaning over wanting to do it for her and make it perfect. She, of course, felt completely confident completing the project herself, having planned out exactly how she wanted it to look ahead of time. Each time I made a suggestion, she'd roll her eyes at me and say, "Mom, it's not your job!" We finally compromised to where I would hold a yard stick across the poster so she wouldn't take up too much space in her groupings of ten, so that all 100 sticks would fit on the poster. The design and execution were completely her own.
As I discovered, and you can see, she was absolutely able to do this project herself. It turned out so cute because it was her creation. Sometimes I need to step back and trust her. Sometimes, what she can do on her own is a much better reflection of me as a parent than what I do for her.
1 comment:
Taiyah had to do that too last week and the we had the same experience. She decided to make a house out of popsicle sticks and the hubby helped a little and things were crooked and I wanted to fix them, but it turned out so cute and she was so proud of herself. It's so hard to step back and watch our kiddos take charge, but so rewarding once they do! :)
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