Not The Boss

 Our little Lee Lee is age three and one her way to three-and-a-half.  Because of that, she frequently tests the limits, boundaries, and rules of our home and our parenting.

Because she is our fourth child of five... truthfully, I am guilty of not always having the follow-through with her that I had with her older siblings... so last week I made a point to work on that.

I reminder her that Mama is the boss, Mama and Daddy are in charge, and when we ask her to do something, we only say it once and she is expected to obey -- otherwise there is a consequence for disobeying what Mama and Daddy ask.

She did well with my buckling down, and after a few trials where she wanted to know if I really meant it this time, she quickly became our sweet, relatively obedient little girl again.

One night, between dinner and dessert, she was given two choices of what she could do, and she wanted to to do her own thing.  After a little back and forth, she and I went up to get in pajamas, and she was having some really big emotions.

She didn't throw a tantrum... but she was crying, and then she just took a deep breath and said, "Mama.  It is so hard not to be the boss."

I was so proud of her ability to put that frustrating into words... it is so hard not to be the boss when you are a little one.

She went on to explain to me that she's just not big enough yet and so she's not the boss, but it is so hard to wait to be big to be the boss.

I love that little girls so much!