Ten Things To Do With Kaylee Before She Turns Ten
1.) Establish discipline. Because if you haven't by age 10, you're hosed. I know, I've seen it! Not that the job is "over" at that age, but you'd best have a really good foundation if you hope to survive what used to be the teen years but is now bumped back into the tween years. Hmmm, I think I have some work to do. :)
2.) Take this girl ice skating! She has asked every winter, and every winter I wait for the river here to freeze, and either it never really does, or the one time it did this year, WE MISSED IT. I've got to get her out ice skating, and in fact may have to hunt up a skating rink. It's not nearly as cool as skating on the "pond" outside, but it's better than nothing.
3.) Make sure you've given at LEAST 14,600 hugs. That's a minimum of four hugs a day, every day for 10 years. Yes, I pulled out my math skills and actually figured that up. I was going to go with two hugs a day, but that seems so low in our house. I like my Kaylee hugs. By the time she's ten, hopefully all of those hugs will sink in and she'll really know and believe how much I love her.
4.) Get her to stop treating the cats like annoying little sisters. I know she loves them, but I think she loves them to death. Each day she pounces on them for tons of hugs and kisses, and quite frankly, the felines in the family are pretty darned patient about it. But they get annoyed about it too. I think if I just played a dvd on the computer over and over that said "Leave the cats alone. Go easy on the cats." I'd be covered for most of the day. Kaylee said to me the other day, "Can you imagine how sad it would be around here without Dulce and Roadie??" They are her playmates. I think she needs a bigger playmate, one who will roughhouse a little easier. A big dog? Ugh, no...
5.) Help her grow enough self-esteem to be able to say 'no.' To friends, to peer pressure, to what she knows is wrong or dangerous. I hope that in those ten years she will continue on the path of getting along with others while still being her OWN person. Kaylee wants to be liked, and she cares about that. On the other hand, she doesn't like to be told what to do if it goes against "the rules". Hopefully in 10 years she will have a developing sense of her self and what she knows is right, and the self-esteem to be able to follow it.
6.) Give them magic. Okay, it's a little controversial for some. But you only get to be an innocent child for such a short period of time in life. Even shorter these days than it used to be. So let them have some magic. Give them holiday traditions and pixie dust and tooth fairy shenanigans. Let them wonder if a giant wardrobe really can open into a whole new world of adventure. Watch them turn their heads really fast in their room trying to catch their dolls or toys moving without them. Kaylee has asked me 20 times if fairies are real, and I won't answer her. I'm not going to lie to her, and I'm not going to tell her no. So I simply refuse to answer her, and I tell her she'll have to decide for herself. Believing in something special is such an important part of being a child.
7.) We're Going To Disney World! Seriously, we have to go to Disney World! We promised! And we have to go while she's still infatuated with Princesses (see #6!). So Definitely before she turns 10, we have to make it to Disney World. :)
8.) Every sport and extracurricular activity available. Okay, that's a tad tongue-in-cheek. But not totally. She wants to try just about everything, and I'm willing to let her try several things here so that hopefully by the time she's 10, it will have narrowed down into a few that truly interest and excite her. You can't know what you are good at until you try it. So while I don't want to fall prey to the "Living out of our car" syndrome, or running Miss K ragged, I do want to give her the opportunity to learn who she is and what she likes while she's young enough that she can try things without embarrassment or self-consciousness.
9.) Establish a healthy body image. As much as is possible, anyway. Young girls today are so bombarded with weight and body issues at such an early age. By the time she's 10, many things will already be established. Hopefully among them will be a healthy self-image, and relatively healthy eating and 'activity' habits. I am SO careful not to make disparaging remarks about myself (or anyone else) in front of her, or to try to pressure her not to eat "so much" (she eats more than I do!). I hope that I can spend these early years building a body image in her that is real, and solid, and healthy.
10.) Keep a record of her milestones and activities so that some day when she looks back through her baby book, or photos, or my blogs, she'll realize that even though I've become an old fuddy duddy who seems to always glower in disapproval (I hope not, but...), that she had a fun, healthy, full of experiences, full of love childhood, and will have to blame any personal dysfunctions on herself! :D
See what Cat wishes to do with her little gents before they turn ten,
and Dawn's Top Ten list is here.
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