This is driving me crazy: My daughter wanting to lay the opposite way on her changing table!
Maybe you don’t understand me. All this time, since she was born, I’ve changed her diapers on the changing table with her little legs facing my right. I’ve dried off her little body with our amazing handmade bath towel from my wife’s cousin. I struggled as a new dad to change this little girl’s diaper a certain way all this time.
Well, it’s only been a couple of years, but you know, I found my niche in being a bath towel using-changing diapers-one-man wrecking crew. I am not going to lie: I’ve became a creature of habit with this changing table direction. This is how I am comfortable dealing with my daughter.
“The other way, daddy!” she says.
All I could do is shake my head. I don’t like this one bit, man. Not at all. I’m thinking about this change she is going through with making her own decisions about what she likes and doesn’t like. ‘But she’s only two years old!’ says my voice speaking to myself in my head.
How can she be ready to start making choices on her own? I think her tiny little brain is developing, but isn’t she supposed to get here when she’s four?! It’s hard to let go into this business of her growing up.
Still, I am happy that she is learning what she likes for herself. As a new parent, I’ve heard people say certain things are hard to let go. I really had no idea that one of the first steps in this letting go process would be my counter-will about her deciding which way to lay on the changing table! And I definitely don’t want to let go off her growing up, picturing her moving from a little girl to an opinionated adolescent! Let’s just slow my brain down already!
Yet I think the best way for parents to begin this very long letting go process is by let their children start deciding what they want on their own about these little things that feel so big in the moment. Yes, Simone, you can lay the way you want on the changing table even though it is driving me crazy. I sure am thinking about how we begin to give our children enough leeway, allowing them to grow and make decisions for themselves.
Of course, there’s the other side of that: What about when they aren’t capable of deciding something for themselves, when our kids need our more fully developed brains to help guide them? Whew, yes, that. So yeah, Simone still doesn’t get to dance atop our coffee table. Who knew a simple issue like which way my daughter wants to position herself on her changing table would spiral my brain into picturing her at age 14? Future tripping: a parenting habit/skill that’s not so helpful when you need to change your toddler’s diaper.
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