I’ve been reading about not “labelling” kids a lot lately and I get where the experts are coming from… Growing up my sister was always praised for her beauty and me for my brains…
So as the “pretty one” she never really thinks of herself as smart and as the “smart one” I certainly never think of myself as pretty…
But as much as I think you shouldn’t box people in, I have also come to realise that you can’t get away from labels, you just can’t….
So how about instead of sheltering Aidan from labels, I just overload him with them so one doesn’t outshine the rest…
That is kind of what I’m doing now… He is my smart boy, my cutey petudy, my lil adventurer, my busy body, my gentle soul, my tree hugger, my music lover, my entertainer….
Although some may argue that I’m giving him too much to live up to or setting him up for an identity crisis, I just see it as loving and praising every part of him
Meanwhile I have become very weary of comparing him to others, which is difficult when you have so many friends with kids…you don’t want your kid to fall behind and you are always nervous about doing something wrong,like when Aidan was the last one in the mommy group to start walking I couldn’t help but wonder if I did something wrong, like not enough tummy time or something….
The other day Aidan and I were paging through those “First Word” books and I noticed he doesn’t point out objects and name them like other kids…I was still wondering if this was age appropriate when he did something funny.
He opened the page on food and started pointing at all round items (tomatoes, grapes, egg yolk), he picked them out one by one saying ball, ball, ball – So here I’m so worried he doesn’t say the words I almost missed him picking out the shapes…
This is why I really love this cartoon: Something to remember …No two people are the same and that is okay 🙂
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Love the cartoon. Every child is unique
I know! it's so cool , should have shown it to my mathematics teacher at school 😉
I agree 100%.
🙂
So precious. I think we get so caught up in comparing our kid to other's milestones we forget to watch the miracle unfolding in front of our eyes. 🙂
Well knowing a bit about my kids you know that well, kids are all so different. And I think you are just building his self esteem – good on you!
Always rolled my eyes when people said "wow they grow so fast" but seriously "they grow so fast!"
Thanx so much 🙂
Yip – that pic could be my four kids :))
We all have our own strengths and personalities and those need to be celebrated.
I like your approach, if nothing else it shows him that Mummy sees all the good and all the best in him which will lead to a good sense of self worth and knowing that he is loved