Test Drive the Parental Challenge

One of the challenges of being a parent is about what to do when your likes and dislikes are different from your children. I remember my parents didn't like the girl that my brother was dating at that time, they told him just that. Meanwhile, they told him that he didn't need to hide the girl. "Bring her home or do whatever, we will treat her with respect." They didn't end up going any where anyways. That pretty much set the tune for my attitude towards Sienna's preferences.

For the past couple of years, I have had enough with Sienna's fascination of Cinderella. In our house, we could easily set up a Cinderella museum. She even wanted to change her name to "La La." And it doesn't stop here...

So what did we do tonight? I bought two tickets and took her to see a Cinderella musical. At one point of time on our half an hour drive to the theater, she screamed pointing to big billboards one after another, advertising the new Cinderella DVD, "look, Mommy, Cinderella poster!" I was like, "Who cares?" And I was banishing the poor girl turned princess all the way. "What's so good about her? She doesn't even have a friend? Cannot read. Cannot play piano. And always work, no fun..." To get my dollars worth, I spent the first hour taking a comfortable nap while Sienna enjoyed her show.

If one day, Sienna comes home and tells me she has joined some kind of religious organization, I would drive her to the church or the temple of her choice. On the way there, I will make sure that she hears what I have to say. I sure will start like this, "Oh, my GOD, you really believe in God? Is there anything I did that made you so disappointed about human beings?"