Let them be little...

The song on my blog goes perfect with this post. I have been thinking about this a lot lately.

Why is there such a push for our little ones to grow up?

Why do we feel the need to have the earliest potty trained kid on the block, or the one who can read before anyone else.

Why does it matter that our older children still want to sit on mom's lap and who cares if your 18 month old prefers a bottle to a sippy at bedtime.

Why do we even compare our child to anyone Else's child?

When did this competition start and is it really all that healthy for our kids?

In nursing we learn and talk a lot about the psychologist Erikson.
Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development has eight distinct stage, each with two possible outcomes. According to the theory, successful completion of each stage results in a healthy personality and successful interactions with others. Failure to successfully complete a stage can result in a reduced ability to complete further stages and therefore a more unhealthy personality and sense of self.

Why don't we let them be little? They are going to be adults for a long time, and they will get all the stress that goes with it! I understand that every kid is different, but shouldn't we listen to the cues that our own child gives us, instead of feeling bad that they aren't where another kid is?

Just an example of my husband...

He wasn't a very good student when he was young. He hated school and struggled with almost every subject. His mom tells me about this all the time. It took him a lot longer than other kids to learn how to read etc... It wasn't that he wasn't smart enough, it was that he wasn't interested in it and therefore didn't try very hard. Well, he eventually graduated with a bachelors degree from a very good business school. He is a very smart person!

Now lets take me... I loved school as a kid. I loved my teachers and they loved me! I was an overachiever. At one point they wanted me to skip up a grade at another point they wanted to put me in a special class for gifted children. Well, as an adult... although I still think I am smart and have a fairly decent IQ score... I hate school! I hated nursing school, it was a pain. I couldn't stand to read those darn textbooks :)It wasn't that I wasn't smart enough, it was that I wasn't interested! I finished, but not at the top of my class. I think I got burned out!

I really don't know if these examples really add up to anything except the fact that, I don't know if it is the wisest thing in the world to want our kids to be doing things before they are mentally ready. Eventually they all catch up in the end.

Lets focus more on.... Loving them, Encouraging them, building their self esteem, giving them hope and supporting them in all they do.