Why didn’t I think of this sooner? Mr. Man always looks up to his big sister. If he sees her doing something, he wants to do it too. He wears her Rapunzel hair around the house like a scarf. If she starts running around, he runs after her. But how can I use this to my advantage?
When I was little, I remember my brother following me around and wanting to do everything I was doing. He would often acquire the same hobby I had and then take it to the next level, putting me to shame. The best example was coin collecting. I had a Beatrix Potter porcelain bank that I filled with coins I had found from other countries, silver dollars and other old US currency (and a million Canadian pennies, of course). I was proud of my collection and I loved finding foreign coins mixed in with my change.
Well, my little brother, four years younger than I am, decided he wanted to collect coins too. The only problem was that he had a huge advantage, a godfather who travelled the world and was willing to send him coins from wherever he was.
As you can imagine, his collection quickly surpassed my own, so I gave up. I was so mad that he would steal everything that was mine. We had a similar experience with stamp collecting and X-men trading cards.
My parents always said, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” which I guess is a nice concept, the fact that he looked up to me and wanted to do what I was doing, but it didn’t make me feel any better about the situation.
Now that I am an adult and couldn’t care less about X-men cards (though I do still collect coins), I see my own kids following this path and yesterday I realized I should be using it to my advantage.
In this house, and probably many others, fingernails grow like wildfire. I clip them and about 20 minutes later they are long and scratching everything again. Yesterday I decided to trim Little Miss’s nails while Mr. Man watched. He was very interested in what I was doing, and when it was his turn he sat calmly while I trimmed all ten nails. For the first time in his 12 months, he didn’t fight me!
Lesson learned. I have to remember to have Little Miss do things first while he watches so I don’t have to drag him through a process. Maybe he will leave his shoes on in public, or maybe he will see how she eats and stop throwing food on the floor! A person can dream…
When I was little, I remember my brother following me around and wanting to do everything I was doing. He would often acquire the same hobby I had and then take it to the next level, putting me to shame. The best example was coin collecting. I had a Beatrix Potter porcelain bank that I filled with coins I had found from other countries, silver dollars and other old US currency (and a million Canadian pennies, of course). I was proud of my collection and I loved finding foreign coins mixed in with my change.
Well, my little brother, four years younger than I am, decided he wanted to collect coins too. The only problem was that he had a huge advantage, a godfather who travelled the world and was willing to send him coins from wherever he was.
As you can imagine, his collection quickly surpassed my own, so I gave up. I was so mad that he would steal everything that was mine. We had a similar experience with stamp collecting and X-men trading cards.
My parents always said, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” which I guess is a nice concept, the fact that he looked up to me and wanted to do what I was doing, but it didn’t make me feel any better about the situation.
Now that I am an adult and couldn’t care less about X-men cards (though I do still collect coins), I see my own kids following this path and yesterday I realized I should be using it to my advantage.
In this house, and probably many others, fingernails grow like wildfire. I clip them and about 20 minutes later they are long and scratching everything again. Yesterday I decided to trim Little Miss’s nails while Mr. Man watched. He was very interested in what I was doing, and when it was his turn he sat calmly while I trimmed all ten nails. For the first time in his 12 months, he didn’t fight me!
Lesson learned. I have to remember to have Little Miss do things first while he watches so I don’t have to drag him through a process. Maybe he will leave his shoes on in public, or maybe he will see how she eats and stop throwing food on the floor! A person can dream…