Is it Important for Your Child to Fit in?

Who else is dreading the day their kid starts to care what their peers think? So far we have been pretty lucky that K marches to the beat of her own drum. To be fair, she doesn’t care what I think either, and that has been a challenge at times. But I also love that she’s her own person.

To be fair, she doesn’t care what I think either

Here she is at school on pajama day – the only kid in footed jammies for the second year in a row. And with orange shoes, of course. After last year, I wondered if she would realize that her peers all have footless jammies with princesses or other characters on them. I thought perhaps she would want that too. So much so, that I even secretly put a spare pair of jammies in her backpack in case she felt out of place and gave her teacher a heads up in private (though I would obviously never say anything to K to dissuade her from being her own person.)

I even secretly put a spare pair of jammies in her backpack in case she felt out of place

What a fool I was to worry! She routinely goes to school wearing 2 different shoes, she boldly announces her likes and dislikes despite what her peers like and dislike, and she rocks these wild curls with style. Do I wish she was tamer and more obedient? Occasionally.

Do I wish she was tamer and more obedient? Occasionally.

Some day, getting her dressed is like wrestling an alligator. Some days her hair is so in her face because she refused a ponytail and I wonder how she can even see. We try to enforce rules that are safety related (because she breaks so many of those that if we started dictating what she wore and ate, we would be fighting every second of every day.)

It took me until I was damn near 30 to stop caring what people think.

With all the difficulties that come with a strong-willed child, I’m proud that K is her own person. It took me until I was damn near 30 to stop caring what people think. I’m sure she may regress and care a little more in her adolescent years, but in the mean time, I’m here to encourage her to be her own person. And I think having a footed-jammie-wearing, curly little lady that wears an upsidedown super hero mask to brunch is pretty awesome.