Nurses Wear Shoes

This poster represents what I think will be one of my toughest parenting challenges-- letting my kids do their own thing regardless of what I think is right or good or acceptable.

So Snook's poster assignment was to fill in the blanks on such topics as "This is What I Look Like;" "When I Grow Up I Want to Be;" and "If I Could Wish For Anything It Would Be." She told me her responses. We were good so far. Then it came time to draw or glue in pictures to go along with her answers. This is where things got ugly. I got the bright idea to go through magazines looking for pictures. But Snook got so excited when she saw certain pictures in the magazine that she didn't care if they matched her responses or not. After much back and forth, I finally just let her put whatever picture she wanted wherever she wanted, which is how we ended up with a shoe where a nurse should have gone, a 30-something-year-old woman where Snook's picture should have been, and a boat where an alligator should have gone.

The whole thing had me so flustered. On the one hand, the last thing I ever want is to do her work for her or to stifle her creativity. On the other hand, I want to help steer her in the right direction. I also didn't want her teacher thinking she (I) didn't care, or she didn't "get it," or the other kids laughing at her.

Of course, I angsted for nothing. When I handed the poster to Snook's teacher with a disclaimer about the pictures, she laughed and said, "Well, nurses wear shoes." So they do. I would have saved myself a lot of trouble if I'd kept that axiom in mind from the start. I hope I never forget it.