Jenny On the Spot

Moms, do you ever find yourself mindlessly filling the role as “Mom”. Let me explain. I find I will answer “no” just because it is “what I do”. I wonder how much of my mothering happens while I am on “autopilot”. I suspect the mom my kids get is more “autopilot” than the super-present “mom” I feel I ought to be. Some of it is born out of survival, and some of it has grown out of habit.

See that picture up there? The door is my daughters’ bedroom door. My 5 year old taped a collage of drawrings (don’t cha just love that extra “r”) on her lovely white door. Now, “autopilot” mom saw that potentially paint-chipping collage and started to call Olivia to take it down and NEVER. DO. THAT. AGAIN.

Then “real-human” mom tapped “autopilot” mom on her shoulder and said, “Now just hold on a sec… let’s think about this…” And that was when I knew how the Tin Man felt when he got his heart. Full and warm. I took a second look. I actually LOOKED at the pictures. I could tell right away there was a story. A story I needed to hear because this story would be full of the contents of my middle child’s heart.

I called Olivia up to her room, but I didn’t have her take the pictures down. Instead, I asked her to tell me about each one.

Grab your coffee. Let’s go upstairs and take a look…

This picture tells us how many people are allowed in the room. 4. Three girls and one boy. She has 1 brother. 1 boy makes sense. I like that she made room for him. But, look closely… all three of the girls are calling her name. I’m thinking this apple doesn’t fall far from the mother-tree. Just as I like everything to be all about ME, it appears Olivia has tapped into that life-philosophy as well. Maybe she should start blogging…

This is a special picture because her friend Haley sent it to her in the mail. Haley just moved out of state. You can tell Haley has no problem with angst. This happy picture just oozes “HAPPY!”

Got “cash”? Cuz, Olivia said, “This is how much cash you need to pay to get into my room.” I like this - maybe she’ll be funding our retirement.

C’mon in! All who are happy! All who are sad! All who are embarrassed! Come! My room is your room. I love that the sad and embarrassed were important for her to include. This tells me a lot about her tender heart.

Now, Olivia is a social gal, but she has boundaries! So if you are angry or mad or bad, Step. Off. I love the eyes. I always just made dots for eyes with lashes. SHE knows how to make stick people communicate emotion!

A recap? Let’s review… Happy? C’mon in. Angry? Go away. Monster? No trespassing, dude!

I am not going to have her take them down. Their room isn’t decorated, and who knows when that will happen. She’s a budding artist and needs some room to express. So, I guess I am going give her her door - to express her artist, her heart, her taste, her loves. Who cares about the paint. In fact, she covered up quite a few finger prints, so I’m thinkin’ this is a win-win!

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