Too many freedoms?

So last night Anna was refusing to put on the pjs that I had picked out for her to wear to bed. What's a mother to do? Well, I'll tell you what I did. I told her that it was mommy's choice tonight and that these are the pjs I have for her to wear. That was that. She wasn't too happy about it, but she did finally put them on. As she was putting them on, my husband said "Anna, tomorrow night you can pick out your own pjs to wear." Um, what?! After Anna was in bed I shared with Mark about Anna being too wise in her own eyes and having too many freedoms. How do you know if your child has too many freedoms? When they throw a fit over something you decide for them. The example the Ezzo's gave in the GKGW series is tomorrow morning, make breakfast for your kids and just set it out on the table without asking them what they want or making them what you know they love. Do they end up complaining about what you served? Did they whine about wanting something different to eat? If so, then they have too many freedoms! If your child can handle you making decisions for them (after all we are the parent, right?!) without throwing a fit, or complaining, or whining about it, then they are showing they can have the freedom with that decision to make for themselves. Does that make sense?

Another tell tail sign your child has too many freedoms is when they do something, say like going outside, do they ask your first or do they just tell you they are going outside? Or even worse just go outside without even you knowing it?! I'll hopefully post more on that later -- but stop and listen to how your children talk to you throughout the day. Are they asking you or telling you things they would like to do?

So back to the story of Anna. Instead of letting her pick out her pjs tonight, I told her that because of her attitude of mommy picking them out, that I will continue to pick them out for the next three nights. Then we can see if she has the freedom to choose her pjs once in awhile.

Why bother, you may ask. Isn't it just pjs? Don't forgot to view parenting from the BIG picture. A small situation today can turn into a BIG problem in the future.

Is your child wise in their own eyes? Do they have too many freedoms?