I'd love to tell you that the whole day went beautifully, but, it did not. Liv had been fighting a cold for several days and was pretty whiny. After she complained through a good portion of the movie that she wanted to leave so she could play the games in the lobby, we had a long chat in the car.
We told her that being James' big sister is kind of a double edged sword. Sometimes, James has to receive more attention. Sometimes his health concerns have to take priority. We understand how this can seem to a 4 year old. Since people think that Liv is taking a back seat to James in some way, they bought her things, took her places, and let her call the shots (within reason). At first it started off as a nice little way of saying "I thought of you" but now Liv expects it. We used to say she was extra loved but somewhere along the way we crossed over into spoiled. That stops now.
We told her you need to be thankful for the nice things that people do for you and stop waiting to see what's coming next. Be thankful for what you have and take nothing for granted. Some people have much less than we do.
After our little "be grateful" speech she took a nap on the ride from Nashua to Burlington. When she woke, she piped up from the backseat that she had decided what she wanted to do for her birthday. She wanted to have people give her money for her birthday so she can give it to the people who don't have enough. She already got enough things for Christmas.
Well, I'll call that a success.
My girl is just amazing.
No comments:
Post a Comment