This morning started off like normal. With a tantrum as I got Big A dressed. As usual, she wanted to wear a "fancy dress" and I was trying to steer her to a more rational choice since she's doing a camp right now that requires sneakers and has playground time. She was putting up even more of a fight than usual and finally she burst into tears and screamed, "It's not fair. Little A has a fancy dress on and she's going to be prettier than me!"
Ah ha.
And so it begins. I reassured her that she was just as pretty as Little A, then got her into a cotton dress and placated her with a necklace, purse and sunglasses. Its all about the accessories after all.
It got me thinking about what it means to raise a girl today. With so much pressure for girls to be princesses and fancy nancies and pinkaliciously f
abulous, what's a mom to do to create a sense of normalcy for her little girl? I give in to a lot of it, because it truly makes Big A happy to dress up and look pretty. But I do want to make sure that she knows that she is worth more than her looks. She's pretty special in other ways too.
I also want Big A and Little A to be the best of friend
s. The sister relationship is so special and I want them to be there for each other the same way that my sister and I are. I thought I was in the clear with Little A being more "sporty" than Big A and thus minimizing the jealousy, but now I'm wondering if I created that stereotype in my own mind, since she did indeed request the fancy dress she was wearing today.
In the end, I know I need to step back and let their relationship take its natural course. In the meantime, I need to be sure I'm praising them for more than just their looks...but they are pretty darn cute...
Big A and Little A on Big A's first day of dino camp
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