After dinner my children wanted to go look at the decorations already up at houses around us. Fine, my husband and I said. Not fine, we said about them wanting to ride their bicycles to do so. But they insisted. And it was a disaster on multiple fronts.
My daughter wanted to ride out in front, only she couldn't see what was there, so a lot of yelling happened to tell her to stop and her not wanting to stop. My son was riding in front of her to get her to stop, which made it even more dangerous.
Everyone was telling her to be careful, my son was riding off, my daughter was going where she wanted to go, the dog was pooping on a neighbor's yard while we were trying to show my daughter an interesting decoration and everything was all higgledy piggedly.
When we returned I told them it was a good idea but I knew it was highly frustrating for my daughter and scary for her father and me. Next time, I said, we were walking to look at decorations.
The Big Boy Update: My son wanted to help tonight, to be a parent, to take care of his sister. But his way of doing so only made her angry and more resolved to do what she wanted to do.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter wanted to be independent tonight. She almost ran into parked cars at a decent speed and mailboxes and drainage openings. It was so scary for us. For her, she just wanted to be free. I can't blame her.
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