Spiderman and His Amazing Friends!!

Sometimes we have to just let kids be kids.  We have to allow them to experiment and discovery on their own.  If we are always there hovering over their every move how will they ever learn to do anything for themselves?  How will they learn to make decisions and choices?  I am all for this kind of hands off philosophy a majority of the time... But running ten minutes late on a Sundays is not one of those times.

All I can say is thank you Jesus for worship since this is basically the church version of previews at the movie theater.  (I know someone is going to freak out by that statement.  In fact the worship loving part of my soul is already berating me for even making this comparison.)

Anyhow,  back to letting my kids be children especially when it comes to their clothes.  If they want to wear their pants on backward the whole day because that's the way they put them on and they did it "all by myself!" then more power to them.  If they want to dress like Superman at the grocery store, why not!  If they want to wear those plastic princess shoes to playgroup, have fun!  (But don't expect me to carry you when those little buggers start pinching your toes.)

Like I said before there are times when I have to put my OCD in check and just let them be kids...  But not at church!  Please God, not at church!  I know we have a really hip, fun loving church that wouldn't think twice about a little girl dressed in her belle outfit because, lets face it, that's adorable.  What they might frown upon is the neon yellow prostitute that just came through there childcare doors....

Let me explain...

It's Sunday, we're running late so I get my C&C in the parent huddle and tell him to take the princess, I'll dress the boy and we'll meet downstairs in five.  Break!  Things are going swimmingly,  get the boy in clothes that fit him without any stains and we are heading down the stairs when I catch a glimpse of the mayhem going on in the princess's room.  What the...?

I walk into the princess's room and I'm greeted with a resounding cry of "Mommy, I Fire-star!"  I bet you don't know who Fire-star is.  Of course you don't, that's because it's a terrible nineteen seventies spiderman cartoon that's not even called Spiderman but called Spiderman and his Amazing Friends!  (look it up on Netflix so you can get an idea of what my family dynamics look like.)  Fire-star has become an obsession to my daughter.  She wants to fly like Fire-star and stop crime like Fire-star.  Fire-star is the women in my household!  The only problem is that Fire-star dresses in nothing but a neon yellow unitard with fire engine red gloves, boots and mask.

super appropriate for church

Fortunately, or unfortunately we don't have a Fire-star costume.  I'm sure this has to do with the fact that nobody knows who she is.  So my daughter takes it upon herself to dress in her banana yellow leggings with a matching neon yellow Tinkerbell shirt and proceeds to "transform" as she lifts her arms and shows her mid drift... Um, no.  You can not go to church like that.  This is about the time my husband decides to chime in and tell me that "Somedays it's got to be ok to let our little princess express herself."  Turns out my husband dressed her!!  Yes, he sure did.  Of course he did.  For some reason he thought that her desire to be her favorite super hero trumped the fact that she looked like a rubber banana.

Mommy, I Fire-Star!

You should see her Fly

Now, I'm really stuck.  I can't contradict my husband.  He has already said she could dress like a prostitute, I mean Fire-star, but I can not and will not let her leave this house looking like that.  (I didn't think I'd have to worry about these kind of fights until she was much older.)  My mommy brain is seething at my husband while simultaneously searching for a solution.  I fortunately remember a yellowish dress with a disney princess on it that has been sitting in her drawer for a while since it has a bit of a stain but is to cute to throw out or giveaway and I start debating if it's too stained or if it even matters at this point, must. get. her. out. of. yellow. clothing!!!  My brain is on overload and I calmly say to my daughter, "hey, you're missing red, Fire-star has red in her outfit.  Oh look!  This dress has pink I mean red in it.  This will look much more like Fire-star."

She takes the bait and is joyous to change into something that doesn't make me want to sink into the floor with embarrassment.  Thank you Jesus for small miracles.

2pts- mommy, daddy-0.

Antenella