Independence

Lately my daughter has taken it upon herself to get dressed in the morning, picking out every detail of what she will wear, right on down to the underwear. Which is fine by me as it does help to shave some time off our morning routine. No more holding up various dresses and asking “how about this?” to which I am usually greeted with a loud and resounding “nooooo.”

While most everything she owns pretty much goes together, there are times when her fashion choices are a bit, how shall I say? Unique.

Take this morning’s outfit for school:

• Kelly green T-shirt with sequined shamrock
• Silver and cream tutu skirt
• Brown tights with pink polka dots
• Princess socks over the brown tights
• Hot pink hoodie sweatshirt

I really should’ve taken a picture. I’m sure her teachers will be looking at her today wondering what the heck I was thinking dressing my daughter this way. I hope she proudly tells them that she picked out this ensemble herself!

At the office, I was mentioning this latest burst of independence to some women in the elevator and they both looked at me and said, “Well you don’t let her go out like that, do you?”

Um, yes? What’s the saying? “Pick your battles wisely?”

I am dealing with a very headstrong (almost) four year old. We’ve got the mother/daughter role down pretty pat. Daddy is the hero, mommy is the boss. And she and I butt heads. A lot. So why would I choose to fight her over something as simple as the clothes she picks out when I know we’ll have bigger fish to fry in the evening over more important things like eating dinner, going potty and brushing her teeth?

In my opinion, as long as she is dressed suitably for the weather (I did make her pick out tights this morning), why should I start arguing with her over whether or not everything matches? Doing so would take away the sense of accomplishment and pride she so visibly feels in “doing it myself” and I most certainly do not want to quell her growing independence and self-sufficiency.

Granted, I will most assuredly have an opinion on what she wears out the door when she is in high school!