Growing Up

Dayna's reached the age where she has made friends in the neighborhood and spends hours outside playing with them. It's been fun watching her play and explore and pretend with her friends.

But with this territory comes some lessons. I think more of the lessons are for Mom and Dad. Like letting Dayna work out conflicts with her friends on her own. Helping her establish her own boundaries (i.e. if she doesn't want friends playing with certain toys, they should be put away when her friends come over.) Allowing Dayna to say "no" when she really doesn't feel like playing. We're teaching Dayna how to be a good host, and when her friends aren't the sweetest of guests, we hope we're taking some teachable moments to show Dayna how she can be a welcome guest in her friends' homes.

Her friends may not always be the ones we would choose, but when we can supervise their play time from a safe distance, hopefully we can help equip Dayna to make wise friends as she grows older.

Growing up is fun...but certainly hard work for parents, isn't it?