A Bicycle Built for Three

Little Man is becoming, well, a little man.  He is putting together sentences, mimicking everything he hears, is growing taller by the minute, and even slowly starting the chaos that is learning to use the bathroom.  We crossed another milestone when he sat for a full haircut.  Now, this wasn't his first trip to the barbershop; he had gotten a trim about six months ago, and about two months ago we decided the time had come to take his hair short.  While he didn't exactly fight getting his hair done in the morning, it wasn't his favorite thing.  Wash night was a bit of a process made more difficult when he was overtired and just ready to be in bed.  He still confused food with hair product at meals, and with warmer weather approaching we knew short hair would be much more comfortable.  So, I made the appointment and took him to the barbershop. It was a disaster.  The appointment was later in the afternoon, and for some reason despite a good nap Lit...

Recently I stumbled across a post on social media that really got me thinking as a parent.  To paraphrase, it asked why parents expect children to follow instructions at first ask but when a child is asking for something it is acceptable to say, "Just a minute!" before following through.  Now, the rest of the post was using this analogy to encourage parents to look up from phones/screens and engage with the children.  This I don't have an issue with -- while there are there absolutely are moments where parents need a break to recalibrate and regulate, parental engagement is essential.  However, it also got me paying closer attention to my interactions with Little Man. I can see the point about having contrasting expectations; I certainly don't want Little Man to spend his teenage years with his head buried in his phone and know that he will look to me as a model.  Since reading that post, though, I've heard how many times I've asked Little Man to wait a moment...