The mind of parenthood

Acilia is 9 now, she pays attention to what other people do, she questions when she can't do something that others do, I would like to say she is a typical 9 year old little girl who is getting in touch with her personal feelings.

A few days ago, Acilia came home from school a bit down. She wanted to rush to the store to buy a pair of "fake glasses" because one of her best friends in class wore them to school and got a lot of attention. Interesting I said, and of course pulled the "this is a good teaching moment" card. "Well, Acilia I know you want to get fake glasses, but you do realize that won't make you popular like loving others will right?" (To be fair to Acilia, she was asking a few weeks ago that she could maybe get a pair of fake glasses for Christmas, but now there was an urgency, she wanted them NOW and she really wasn't accepting my reasoning for why we couldn't just run to the store right then and there and get her a pair of her very own.) Acilia said she agreed with that statement, but she was still pouty about not getting them. I told her, I would TRY to get a pair in the next few days, but I was making no promises. (My thought being, she wants the glasses, if she waits until Christmas the moment of desire may have passed and she will have missed out on a fun style statement.)

Yesterday, she came out of school again, now her OTHER best friend (they are sort of like the three amigas) wore a pair to school and she felt completely left out. I can just picture my shy little girl feeling sad because her two best friends had this "attention grabber" that she did not have. I am not a fan of doing what others do, but I had that deep down question "is this a battle I need to fight, or should I just let this one go and go get the glasses?" I was thinking about how the "fun" of wearing fake glasses will wear off soon I am sure, and then it will all be behind us and then perhaps a bigger, less trivial experience will come along and my seeming "support" of giving in to the trend is going to work against me when she pulls the "but mommmmm, everyone else is doing it!" I do still have that age old "Well, if so and so were to jump off a cliff, would you?" phrase that I believe every parent has used at one point or another, so I feel content that these glasses aren't going to make or break my method of parenting. So we went to Claires and got Acilia her very own pair of "fake glasses". She was thrilled!

I had to giggle a bit, Claires can be a bit trendy and when I asked about the glasses the clerk informed me they are called "Attitude Glasses" and she can't keep them on the shelves! Apparently they are the new "it" craze. Well, fancy that, my daughter has officially found her seat on the "cool train". My job as mom just got harder. And, another giggle came when she tried to sell me a "Justin Bieber" diary, to which I said my daughter is not into him, she said "Oh, is she over it?" I said "No, she never liked him" :) My little girl DOES still have a bit of rebel against the craze in her!

All jokes and deep analysis aside, Acilia is beautiful inside and out and I feel so blessed to have her in my life, especially right now, she is so delightful at this age and we are building a bond that I am confident will be strong as we face the hard years together. Seeing her wear these funky and fun glasses, I see the joy and appreciation in her face and I see her beauty and I am just in awe of her.

modeling the new glasses

Today, she gladly donned her "attitude glasses" to school, I, being the wannabe stylist, put her in a black polo with charcoal capris, she had her zebra converse shoes on (which I LOVE those shoes!!) and we put her blue beaded peace sign dangly earrings on. She looked absolutely precious!!