We spent sometime this afternoon decorating these new toothbrushes the Easter Bunny brought the boys. It was perfect timing as I've been trying to teach the kids about making things their own, being their own person with their own style. If you didn't know, you might be thinking I have some tweens in the home right? Sounds crazy that I'm having to have these conversations with my 4 yr old twins and 6 yr old, oh excuse me 6 3/4 yr old, right? The truth is I am. The struggle in my house right now is my boys concerns about what their friends might or might not think is cool. Statements like this can be heard every morning in my house, " I don't want to wear that shirt, my friends won't like it.", "I don't want those shoes, [so and so]says those aren't cool." These statements are from my 4 yr olds. I find it frightening that this has begun at such an early age. My 6 yr old is all about, " I want my picture (when he's drawing) to look like [so and so's].", "[So and so] made a cool airplane, I want mine to look the same." Coming from Aidan, this has really surprised me because he's always marched to the beat of his own drum.
I just keep reminding them, that they should wear what they like. It doesn't matter what someone else thinks of it and they shoud wear it proudly. As for their artwork what's most important is their imagination how they would like something to look. The best thing is having your own style and not being a slave to what others think.
So when it came time to decorate their toothbrushes, I kept reinforcing this. The kit came with 141 stickers so you got to choose which ones to use. I pointed out the differences between their toothbrushes and yet they were all cool. They all agreed with me. I tried to tie this back to how great it feels to be your own person. They all nodded in agreement. I really do hope they're getting the message. Only time will tell.
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