10/29/13

L’il Punkin’

The child decided she wanted to be the one that carved the pumpkin this year. 

I was sorely tempted to jump in and tell her all about the limitations that she should observe; the things she shouldn’t do.  But, I kept quiet and just let her go, knowing the worst thing that could happen would include stitches. 

She didn’t cut herself, but look what she got this pumpkin to do.

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A howling wolf should be sufficient to keep the goblins away on Halloween. 

My input was limited to telling her just once that she needed to keep cleaning out the inside, and loaning her a sewing machine needle that she used to punch through the drawing, transferring the lines to the pumpkin.  Oh, and I loaned her my wood carving tools, which she cleaned and returned.

Boy, we are doing something right. 

Anyway, the only thing that bothers me is how critical she is that it isn’t perfect.  She’s found a hundred flaws that I can’t see.

Like I would.

As a parent, it’s my job to encourage “good enough” instead of “perfect”.  Good enough should be sufficient to the task and shouldn’t be the same for everything.  Some stuff has to be fun, right?

Everybody have a great Tuesday.  Be well.  Be imperfect.

Lane

6 comments:

lw said...

I think the pumpkin looks great. Congrats on just letting her do it, that's hard to do.

It's so funny. Children rarely turn out as expected-- and mostly, they turn out to be just like their parents. Which, in this case, is a very good thing.

http://thankfullga447 said...

I love the way the pumpkin turned out. Some people have talent and some don't and she does.

Anonymous said...

Lane, she did a great job. Funny how we only see our own mistakes and how critical we are of them.

She has grown into a wonderful young woman. She has two great dads to thank for that!

Kathi

Anonymous said...

Way to go quiltfool. Will you adopt me please?

Joy said...

She did an amazing job - that is beautiful!

Elizabeth said...

I wonder if there is anyone out there who is exactly the right amount of critical towards themselves, if that makes sense? Usually, people tend towards the extremes -- overly critical or too unconcerned.

Sydney's pumpkin is amazing! Yay, Syd! And yay you for giving her the room she needed to prove she could do it! You guys are definitely doing something right.

xo -E