One difficult part of parenting for me is knowing when to say "no" to my children. I have to say that it would be a lot easier if I felt it was okay to just give them everything that want at any given moment. Beside the fact that we can't actually monetarily afford to give them every single thing in the world, I tend to believe that they will be better off if they are not given even all that we can afford. But, like I said, it is a little difficult for me to know where to draw the line.
Probably one of the hardest times to set limits is on family vacations - something inside me feels more guilty than usual when I limit the number of cookies they can eat, enforce bedtime, or even force them to have their hair brushed - on vacation. However, even princesses have to have their hair brushed! (Yes, princesses are on on the forefront of all of our minds right now, after our visit to Disneyland.) We hope our princesses will grow up to be of the beautiful variety - beautiful because they are kind, good, caring, and yes, I admit, even because they brush their hair! I hope we can avoid creating the kind of princess that is only "royal" because she gets everything she wants.
As part of that attempt, our princesses were given an option at the end of our Disneyland adventure: for our final activity of the day, they could choose to either get a small toy or an ice cream cone. Neither of the girls had to think for even a second about which they would select. Natalie knew right away she would like to pick a toy. Ava's eyes opened wide when she heard the words "ice cream," which she repeated with such excitement, one would think that this is a very rare treat for her! Ice cream is definitely one of her favorite things in the world. So, while Keith got Ava her ice cream, I took Natalie to pick out a toy.
Natalie was very thoughtful about her toy choice. I really thought she would just pick one of the first things she saw; but, as I tried to be patient, she walked around and around the store, picking up various toys, weighing the options in her mind, sometime returning to certain items. Finally, she was sure about her decision. "I don't have a reindeer, and I really, really need one." (It is starting to become apparent to me that Natalie thinks we really need at least one of each animal in the world.) We purchased Bambi, and walked back to meet the ice cream eaters.
Once it really kicked in, however, that Natalie had just acquired a great new toy, Ava decided she wanted one too. When we reminded her that she had picked ice cream over a toy, she abruptly shot-put her ice cream cone to the ground as she proclaimed, "I don't like ice cream!"
