Monday Motivator

Last Thursday was Valentine’s Day, and it became clear to me that I am not completely in touch with how fast Mason in growing up. If you have children you will easily get this, and if you don't, well, you may still find the humor in it. This is the story of the pink shirt for Valentine’s Day.

In preparing for the school party with cookies and cards, I also found a pale pink button down shirt that I thought would look great on Mason. I planned to pair it with some dark khaki pants and a red turtle neck shirt. Does that really sound so bad? Mason thought so! "I don't want to wear a pink shirt. The kids will laugh at me." Huh? How can this be, you are only 4 years old, I thought. I went on to explain that there are no such things as girl colors and boy colors, there are only colors. "We wear red at Christmas, pink on Valentine’s Day, green for St. Patrick's Day, and red, white, and blue for the 4th of July" I said. He wasn't having any of my logic. "I'm not wearing pink!" he exclaimed.

Being a little older (as far as my time in life to be a mom), I decided not to push the issue, although I was disappointed. I am glad that Mason has a sense of himself and how he feels, but I don't want him to be motivated by his perception of what other's will think. Mason put on the outfit without the pink shirt and finished getting ready for school. At the last minute, he came out of his bedroom wearing the pink shirt. I smiled and clapped and gave him a big hug letting him know how pleased I was. He still wasn't having the "happy" part, but he was wearing the shirt. His dad explained to him how happy it would make me (and I suspect he even bribed him with a new Hot Wheels toy).

Mason wore the shirt to school and made the announcement immediately that no one was to laugh at him for wearing a pink shirt. His teachers picked up where I left off about how great he looked, and especially how great he looked in his pink shirt. Much to my surprise, when I picked him up at lunch time he was still wearing it. I asked him how it went and he said fine. I then asked if he wanted to take it off and before I could finish asking the question, the shirt was off and in the back of the car. With the tossing of the pink shirt came a huge hug and kiss from my independent and opinionated 4 year old son. I wonder where he gets those traits.

"You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man's initiative and independence" - Abraham Lincoln