Originally published Wednesday, 02 October 2013.
One morning my 4 year old insisted on wearing her hot pink dress with the big orange flower in the center of the chest. She was so excited and proud of herself for picking out her own outfit. She had matched the dress with her hot pink and white polka dot flowered leggings along with her hot pink sneakers! Her outfit was a girly girl’s dream…hot pink, flowers and polka dots everywhere!
She came running into the room to greet me screaming, “Look Mommy, I’m all dressed and I match!” I looked at her and gasped! I quickly mirrored her smile and mimicked her excitement, but on the inside I wasn’t so excited and almost bit a hole in my tongue trying to hold back my real opinion!
Here’s why…
The dress is adorable and so are the leggings but together, not so much! What I failed to mention is that the bottom of her adorable hot pink dress is brown and orange…ruffled PLAID.
That is correct, friends. My sweet girl matched her PLAID RUFFLED DRESS with her POLKA DOT LEGGINGS and was brimming with confidence! Her mind and her heart were set.
I thought long and hard about this one.
My first thought was, “She cannot go to school like this. It doesn’t get much worse than polka dots and plaid. I am going to make her change.”
This was quickly followed by my 2nd thought, “Who cares?”
Guess which thought won?
Off to school my 4 year old went in orange, pink, brown, plaid, polka dots and flowers. On this particular day, I decided that it just didn’t matter. I made an intentional decision to not focus on something that really didn’t matter! In this case, my decision meant that off to school my 4 -year old went…happy!
With a house full of girls I am learning to choose my battles wisely. Sometimes I must simply let go. {TWEET THIS}
I have to choose to take a stand based on what my husband and I value as important.
…thankfully matching patterns does not fall into that category!
Throughout any given day and even down to the hour, our kids will make choices that we disagree with.
So Mom, don’t get caught in a battle of the wills. We will not win their hearts by winning every battle .{TWEET THIS}
Here’s my advice: The next time you are about to jump into the ring over an outfit or music, or a choice of hair bows, use these brief tips to help you decide if it’s a battle worth fighting or if you should save your energy for another day:
1. Is it a Biblical issue?
2. Does it affect others?
3. Is it in direct conflict with a family instruction or guideline?
Today I challenge you to set the guidelines and choose to focus and fight for things that matter!
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