In the months spent getting our daughter excited about a new house and a new room, she consistently (and enthusiastically) shouted “pink!” whenever we asked her what color she would like the walls. When we planned her nursery, even though we knew she was a girl, we purposely kept it neutral. If anything was going to be “girly,” it was going to be her choice. Well, now she’s making her opinion heard loud and clear.
As we stood in the paint aisle of the hardware store, I pulled all of the pink paint chips from the wall. I held them out to my 2-year-old and asked, “Which one?” I watched her eyes dart around looking at all the different shades until they stopped and her little finger confidently pointed to one of the brightest options.
Without hesitation, I handed the paint chip to the guy on the other side of the counter and he chuckled. When we showed pretty much anyone the paint chip, they chuckled (or said it reminded them of Pepto Bismol) and when the paint finally went on the walls, it was even brighter than we thought. But this is where the magic happens.
When that little girl saw her new room for the first time, her eyes lit up. “This is mine?!”
She asks to show her new room to every visitor we have. She proudly marches up the stairs and runs in declaring “it’s pink, pink, pink!” as she twirls around and points out that Mommy and Daddy did, in fact, remember to bring her bed and all of her toys to the new house. Phew.
She is SO PROUD of her room. She made a decision and we listened without questioning and in doing that, we honored who she is as a person and in the tiniest way, made her more confident in herself. I’m not saying everyone should let their 2-year-old call the shots, but what I am saying is let them be who they are because, in the end, some things just don’t matter. It doesn’t matter if her clothes match or if her room reminds everyone else of antacid. She’s got plenty of time for the world to try and tell her who she “should” be, but here we are in the middle of toddlerhood and I think the person she is right now is worth celebrating, too – so you do you, boo.
