The Trouble with Four Year Olds

The trouble with four year olds is that have discovered the power of negotiation.  They know if they eat their green beans they can successfully argue that green beans and ice cream cancel each other out. " Mommy, don't you want  ice cream too?"  You do of course and who can argue with this brilliant force of nature.  Four year olds have the uncanny ability to make you laugh, cry, and question your sanity all at the same time.  My friend's four year old, " Hey Mom, see those sun shine streams through the clouds? That's God. He's smiling at us."  When my daughter was four, she was obsessed with two things.  Barney and Ariel.  Unfortunately, she received a dingy Barney sleep shirt from a yard sale while "junking" with her grandparents.  She also had a pair of Ariel leggings.  Surprise!  This was her outfit of choice for months.  Did I mention four year olds insist on being their own stylists?  It's true, every four year old must pick out and don outfits they put together themselves, or you will face the dreaded tantrum.  Not only did my daughter dress herself she refused to have her hair brushed, and always seemed to have a rash on her face.  I was certain I would be hand cuffed and taken away by Child Protective Services.  She would proudly wear her sloppy Barney shirt, dirty kneed Ariel leggings and flip flops in January as if she was about to be on the catwalk during New York's Fashion Week.  All of you who haven't had a four year old or have conveniently blocked the memory out, let me remind you that reasoning with a four year old, hell bent on doing something, is like watching a presidential debate during the primaries.  It is far easier on everyone to pretend you're the babysitter and convince them to call you by your first name when in public, than to coif their hair dress them in pressed clean adorable matching outfits and having their heads spin around like the exorcist. Trust me I've done it, not pretty.  That same four year old can touch your cheek softly and sing you the lullaby you've been singing to them since before they were born.  I guess the problem or "trouble" with four year olds is that as their amazing minds expand and their beautiful personalities become solidified you lose the control you once had over their every step.  It is the natural ebb and flow of the parent child relationship.  "Relationship" being the key word here.   My four year old is now 21 years old.  How I long for the days when she would sing " A Part of Your World" at the top of her lungs while trying to brush her hair with a fork. Believing for certain anything was possible.  Release your inner four year old!  God Bless...