Dilemma



What do you do when your 5 year old begins to have better arguments than you?  Lately, when I have asked GraceAnna to do certain things, she has come up with, actually, really good reasons not to.  So, do I continue and make her obey because I'm the mom and that's what I said to do and she needs to obey me without question?  Or.... when her argument makes a lot of sense and actually makes what I'm asking her to do look silly, do I relent and back down on what I'm asking of her?  Hmmmm...... here are some recent conversations:

"GraceAnna, you need to finish your dinner.  You are not allowed to eat anything else tonight unless you finish your dinner.  It is perfectly good food and if you are hungry, that's what you can eat."

"Mommy, is that the MOST healthy thing that we have that I can eat?"

"Errrrr, uhhh, no, not the MOST healthy thing that we have in our house..."

"Well, I only want to eat the most healthy thing that we have.... can I have a banana instead?"

(She won that one)


"GraceAnna, we are learning this hymn for school, and I can't hear you singing it - you are just mouthing the words.  You need to sing it out so I can hear you."

"But Mommy, I'm singing it to God, and HE can hear me...."

(She won that one as well)

Now, I just want to clarify that each time, she was not disrespectful in the way she presented her case, just more, I guess, wondering why I was insisting on one way.

I still have a whole lot to learn as a mama.......