Or, what the willfull little girl is to the Chef. I always knew she looked like him, but whenever we spend a lot of days around the Chef, it always comes back to me in a rush; those two are so much alike. At one point during our Disneyland excursion, the Chef asks me, "why do things always have to be so difficult?" Before I could answer, he said "I know, I know." It occurs to me that Nonna probably literally smacked the Chef's strong-willed tendencies out of him when he was a small child. As an adult, he can now be independent and challenging and a contrarian and knows (for the most part) when these characteristics are and are not appropriate. Obviously, the little girl doesn't know these boundaries. It's our job to teach her.
I just worry that as she gets older, the little girl and chef will clash a lot, since their frustration with each other is sometimes almost physically palpable. He claims I'm being too soft with her, but sometimes escalation is not the answer. Sometimes you have to try humor, sometimes you try to change the subject, sometimes you issue a warning and give her time to comply. He just gets frustrated with her so easily and I forsee really bad things in the future for those two unless he learns how to deal with her.
I know the traits of independence and single-mindedness will serve her well as an adult. As Texas Uncle told me once, "she's going to change the world, because the world is not going to change her." So true.
No comments:
Post a Comment