Being Impressionable

Wrote this in April of 2010:

When I let go of judgment of things, this is not scary to me. And I also see that I have a deeper trust of a person's inner guide to continue with things that fit with their inner self and to turn away from stuff that doesn't. I used to be worried that my daughter was not able to "be natural" or make decisions based on her "natural" self/instincts, etc. But it kinda goes back to that nature vs. nurture argument, in that it is impossible to see either purely, because they impact each other so profoundly. It is the same with my daughter wanting to buy lots of new clothes these days -- is that something natural (teen years creeping in) or is it an outside influence? Was her wanting to attend public school natural or influenced? My understanding is that it is all a part of her, regardless of where it comes from. I feel like if she is drawn to it, there is something inside her that is attracted to it. I trust her and want her to trust herself enough to explore what is attractive to her. I trust that she may lose interest or find joy in anything she is attracted to. But, mostly, I trust that it is her choice to make, which is why I feel like I don't want to censor my kids -- they will know if something feels right or not to them, and I can support that whichever way it works out.


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Part of the joy of movies and books and whatnot is losing oneself in them, but a fun way to find oneself again is I often think, "How would I do this differently, if it were up to me?" It is such a simple way of critically thinking. I saw the movie Where the Wild Things Are, and I didn't like it very much (SUCH a huge disappointment, because I REALLY REALLY wanted to), so I decided to write my own book about wild things, starring Noble as Max :D Maybe if we ask our kids this question, it can help them to retain "themselves" sometimes, too :) I want to make sure and add in that I think there is nothing wrong with just vegging in front of the tv or in a good book, too -- whatever floats one's boat :) I just have recently found such enjoyment from that question :) I am sort of a personalizing kind of gal :D


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I LOVE the kinds of discussions that can come from talking about this stuff with our kids. I have learned so so so much from observing Noble re-enacting stuff he sees and then asking him questions about it. It is kinda interesting, too, to see WHAT stuff he picks out of movies. We just recently went and saw How to Train Your Dragon, and Noble was very uncomfortable with a part when the boy is considering stabbing the dragon with a knife (again, I can think of some ways I would do this movie differently for my barely 3-year-old), so I held my hand up so he could hide his eyes when he wanted to. It is one of the ways that I see my son, even at such a young age, showing his own censoring and interest-guiding :)