It's Not Easy Being Green...

Not long ago, my daughter managed to secretly color her legs with a green marker. The markings were quite ornate. Though I've told her many times not to color on her body, I couldn't help but be proud of her creativity. Unfortunately, I didn't discover the hieroglyphics on her legs until she was getting dressed for gymnastics class. I asked my daughter if she had drawn tights on her legs to go with her leotard?
The class is early on Saturdays and we had little time to clean her up. Plus, I thought this might be a good lesson for her to stick with coloring on paper and not on her person. When we arrived at the gym and she stripped down to her leotard, my daughter suddenly became self-conscience of her green legs. She hid behind me like a shy toddler. Some fellow daycare friends and their mom were also at the gym that morning. The mom commented on how pretty my daughter's legs looked. She hid herself further into the backs of my legs and insisted she needed to get dressed. I couldn't believe my daughter-who's not even four yet-already felt so awkward in a crowd. And no one had even said anything "mean." This really was a good lesson and one I'd never thought about as we headed to the gym. I reassured my daughter her green legs were beautiful and she should show them off. She tilted her head to the side and read the truth in my face and smiled. The gym coach approached us to take the kids out on to the floor. The coach told my daughter her legs looked great. As my daughter skipped out to the floor, I knew she learned it's okay to be different...