shaping
remain
imaginary
ludicrous
women
pollution
Here’s my story:
As her 4 year-old watched SpongeBob, she was washing the breakfast dishes. Her heart felt light and happy. Anita began singing along.
“It’s the best day ever!”
Suddenly, she scowled.
The night before a group of women at the PTG were going on about being adamantly against their kids watching SpongeBob. What was the complaint? Oh, yes… “brain pollution through mindless entertainment.”
Her heart quickened as a feeling of failure in her role of shaping her child’s future overtook her.
Anita dried her hands and sat down beside her daughter to investigate this further. She may have turned off the show immediately if that darn happy tune wasn’t still looping in her brain.
The next episode was about SpongeBob’s humorous dedication to his job and the next was about his devotion to his best friend and the last was about asking for help to tie his shoes.
“Umm… What’s wrong with that?” she thought.
Immediately, Anita did some serious soul-searching. The terms “helicopter moms” and “group think” had been imaginary concepts until now. She even realized, to her dismay, that “shaping the future” for her daughter was a ludicrous idea. What kind of foolish notion had she been a party to? Her role was to guide her child and help her make sense of things NOT to create an alternative reality or keep her in a bubble!
She glanced lovingly at her child. Her girl was sitting at her feet teaching her doll to tie its shoes singing “It’s the best day ever!”.
Anita sighed. She felt calmer than she had in ages.
Now, should she remain silent at the next meeting about her delightful support of SpongeBob?
As she completed the dish washing, her eyes sparkled and she grinned devilishly.
With a chuckle, she whispered, “This will be fun!”
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