"In Just a Minute"

Yesterday Catherine attended her gymnastics class. The class consists of one teacher and six four year old girls. All of the girls are very unfocused. As the teacher tries to get them to work on one apparatus (she has to assist them individually), the kids are supposed to sit against the wall and wait for their turn.

Instead of waiting, the children frequently wander around the gym and play on other apparatus. The poor teacher has to spend a lot of time redirecting the children. It takes a lot of patience to teach toddlers!

Today while the teacher was assisting one of the kids on the bar, Catherine wandered over to the springboard to jump on it. The teacher told her to come back and wait in line for her turn on the bar.

What happened next mortified me.

Catherine turned toward her teacher, held out her right hand, open palm facing toward the teacher, and said, in a very calm yet firm voice, "In just a minute." I could not believe it.

Thankfully the teacher did not accept her response and told her "No, come now." Even more thankfully, Catherine complied with the teacher's request (albeit the second time). If she hadn't, we would have had a serious incident of discipline in public.

There is a bit of cuteness in Catherine's oh-so-adult response. Of course we cannot tolerate it and constantly have to reassert our authority. It amazes me how she thinks she can tell us what to do. Maybe it is an inborn need for independence or rebellion. Maybe it is "original sin." Maybe it is a learned behavior - has she observed us challenging authority and is mimicking us? When will we break her of this habit? Will we break her of this habit? Is this normal child-pushing-the-boundaries or is it early signs of Oppositional Defiant Disorder?

Sometimes I doubt my parenting. Are my standards too high? Do I expect too much from a four year old? I have worked in juvenile law defending children for so many years that I fear my children committing the delinquent acts I see in court. Is it far for me to be so strict on my child? Of course some parents would be even stricter in the need to instill "respect for elders."

I hate the see-saw mental struggles of parenting!