Parker. On the one hand, he is a wrestling, drumming, whooping boy…and on the other hand he desperately wants to be like his big sister. This conundrum lends itself to some pretty funny situations…a recent night was no exception.
Before dinner, he outfitted himself in a princess costume, tiara, ballet slippers, and purple beads. He then proceeded to sit through dinner calling himself “Princess Parker” and telling Ben that he was “Princess Daddy”. We tried, to no avail, to convince him that boys are princes or kings, like Prince Huckleberry on Strawberry Shortcake or the Nutcracker Prince. Nothing worked…he was a princess. This is not an unusual situation, he is always dubbing himself something or other…a princess, Leo from Little Einsteins, a “beeper” (cashier), but he was unusually insistent this evening, as he munched his dinner with his tiara falling over his eyes.
Then, after dinner, Ben decided to try another tactic. He started to build a fort, and when Parker tried to join in, he told him that princesses don’t build forts. Parker thought about it for a minute while Ben kept working. Then…
“Dad, I’m a king!”, he yelled. Off came the princess attire, and the two boys built their kingdom of chairs, pillows, and blankets.
I love how kids use their imaginations to leap from persona to persona. There’s no limit to what they can be…princess, king, racecar driver, doctor. I need lessons to remind me of how to do that…to envision what I could be. Even now, I struggle with coming up with examples, because I restrict myself with logic, saying things like, “well, I couldn’t be a chef, because I have no formal training”. It’s true, but not necessarily the attitude of a dreamer.
So Parker…dream away,..don’t lose that spirit of adventure…you can be whatever you want to be, and don’t let anyone, (including me), tell you different…
— Post From My iPhone
