Ok, I know what I should have done. Gone over to her room, sat down to be level with her face and said tenderly yet firmly, "We don't yell in this house."
I didn't. Instead, I offered a choice of 4 skirts, 3 pantyhose, 3 pairs of socks, 4 long-sleeved tops and 2 jackets. Each item was greeted with, "No, Mum, I don't like it much. And I need long socks, because short socks make me look like a boy.... But not those long socks."
Which, at least, is an improvement on last year's "I HATE THAT DRESS!!!!"
Or was an improvement, until, after 20 minutes of fruitless negotiations and failure to meet halfway between fashion and keeping warm, I heard: "Mummy! You just don't love me!" From getting dressed to emotional blackmail in three easy steps. That had me at my computer in no time at all, surfing straight to:
Another perfectly beautiful morning wasted fighting over something so trivial.
Now, the 4-year old dresses without my help. True, he chucks the contents of his drawer onto the floor in order to find his favourite Thomas the Tank Engine T-shirt... the one with a brand-new hole... but once he's dressed, HE PUTS IT ALL BACK!!!
How could I have raised two such totally different children? Why did my soft-spined pandering work only 50%? Does my 6-year old need firmer borders or more love? Or simply a school with a school uniform, LOL?
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