Shaved legs--Monday Memory

This weekend we were watching the Track and Field finals for the US Olympic Team tryouts. As we watched I commented to Tarzan, B used to run hurtles, he was awesome to watch, T ran relay, she was so fast, C did the long jump she was really good, and so on. I bored him with my continuing monologue about how the children had performed in sports while in school. Then...

I caught his interest...

It seems that when T was in 5th grade the school was having a track meet in May and it was hot, hot, hot. I bought her a really cute red shorts and tank top outfit. She refused to wear it and came out of her room ready for the track meet in jeans and a t-shirt. I knew that would never work, it was way too hot to be dressed like that for a track meet.

I asked T several times, in different ways, why she would not wear the shorts. I thought it might be because she thought it was immodest. No, it wasn't that. Maybe she didn't like what I bought her. No, it wasn't that. Finally, T burst into tears and said, "I have hair all over my legs and it's embarrassing."

I said, "Oh, I can fix that," I took her in the bathroom and shaved her legs and she gleefully went off to the track meet in a cute red shorts outfit.

As I thought about that, I recall more than once when the "rules" had to be changed to meet the needs of the individual. The one thing I wish I could redo as a mother is to make more times when I gave my children a little more control over their rules.

Maybe you can take this to heart and ease up a little on some things with your own children.