Day 215 The Perfect Mom Project

Flip flop, flip flop, flip flop that was the sound of my daughter Avery heading off to her vocal concert last night. Against my better judgment and with a heated debate behind us, she was wearing her flip flop sandals. After pushing my point (rather heatedly) about how against her wearing flip flops I was, she looked at me and said, "Mom, I get it! You don't want me to wear flip flops." I just would not let it go, and when she said that to me, it was like someone threw a bucket of cold water on me.

I heard all her arguments for wearing them. They were the usual ones…everyone is wearing them, I do not want to wear my tennis shoes they do not match, I forgot I do not have any flats. The issue was that the 8^th graders all got t-shirts to wear at the concert, so it was not a dressy event. As a mom I just wanted her to look nice and I was also concerned about her dancing (which they did in a couple of their songs) in flip flops. However, the biggest issue of all, (I saw after Avery helped me realize how deranged I had become) was that I was embarrassed. I did not want my kid wearing flip flops at the concert, it's just not appropriate! What kind of parent lets their child do that? Apparently, this kind, never mind that it is only 35 degrees outside, just flip flop yourself out of my car and go in to the concert

.It was just a slap in the face to realize that my biggest issue with Avery wearing the flip flops was more about me and what people would think then it was about her actually wearing them. Bah! Why in the world would I care? I have seen parents do way worse wacked out stuff at these concerts all the time and to be honest I do not even remember who they were. What is one flip flop wearing concert going to do? I guess we will find out, because she wore them. Once we got there I realized that she was going to blend in with all of her friends that were wearing them too. Most of all, it did not matter, because I spent the whole evening just watching her beautiful face as she sang. At that point she could have been barefoot.

 So, I learned from the advice I received in the past but I never before had used. Don't sweat the small stuff, or it is not worth winning the fight if you lose the battle. Mainly, I just want my daughter to know I love her and I am proud of her and the young woman she is becoming. So, she does not keep her room clean and she wears flip flops when it is cold out, she is still a pretty cool kid (could be the shoes…just saying). Having three girls is not easy, but the third girl is helping me see what the other two girls have been trying to help me get for a while. It's who they are that matters, not their clothes or their shoes, or even how clean their room is. That does not mean that I am handing out flip flops as shoes now, it just means that I might be a little more enlightened today then I was yesterday. Go MOM!