Today I took out a doll's buggy from our storage room for Evie. For Evie. Anyway, for those who have girls, you'll know that whenever you have friends around to play....what gets fought over? A dolls pram. Always. Always, always, always. I'll bet £100 on it. Today we had some little friends around (Victoria, Max, Emma, Alexander and then Josephine and Evie). Within minutes, the dolls pram was discovered (I didn't hide it away well enough...) and...yip, the fight began. Victoria and Josephine fought bitterly over it. It even got physical...pushing, shoving, ripping, ramping, you name it. It became so personal to each of them that they got to the point where they were so stressed out that neither could listen to their mother's reasoning. Sharing? Hah! Not today! Josephine was so stressed with me too as I was trying to calm her that she was shaking.
The pram then got packed away as there was no solution in sight for either. Compromise is still a challenge for a 3 year old. Getting a little better, yes. But in some situations, it's still brute war.Victoria never fully recovered from her tears and they ended up leaving a bit earlier. And Josephine was ratty like anything too.
....dust settled....me reading Josephine stories in her bed tonight....
"Josephine? Why were you so stressed out about the doll's pram today? You never play with the pram, so why was it so important to you today? "
her (naughty!!) little eyes shining, proudly...."I just want to be da winner."
of course, another little conversation had to follow....about sharing, friendships, etc. But what I found quite interesting (as well as amusing) was that for Josephine (and other small children), it's about the principle (of ownership) and not the thing itself that drives them to near madness.
Otherwise, all well here. Just missing Michael who is in Barcelona on a week's business. He gets back on Sunday midday. Monday we have a public holiday, phew and yay! We're also supposed to be having some family photos done that day, if the weather is ok.
Goodnight from a bushed mom!
