Abby is all into playing Cinderella and the Evil Stepsisters.
Oddly enough Abby does not insist on being the princess. I have noticed with her and her friends that they actually don't mind if not prefer being the stepsisters.
As she ordered me around in the rudest way she could think of this morning (I was Cinderella) I thought perhaps she isn't allowed to be mean much and this was an excellent vent for those tones and feelings.
It wasn't as easy as one would think though, to keep herself in character. As she banished me into my room and told me to lock the door, "and stay in there until I tell you and you canNOT come out so just stay in there and do the laundry... and snack... or read a book... you know, do whatever you want" (the tone strays from demanding to quite polite as the sentence progresses).
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2 comments:
Wonerfully funny!
Great story. I'm reading a book called "Playful Parenting" and I think that what the author of that book would say is that playing the evil stepsister gives Abby the chance to be in a position of power, a position which small children don't often get to be in. And just so long as she isn't TOO terribly mean or rude or violent or anything like that, it is very good for her emotional life to get to turn the tables for a chance. For HER to tell YOU what to do, when she spends all the rest of her life having YOU tell HER what to do. She gets to play it out in a safe way and then go back to being your little girl at some point.
Our toddler version of this right now is that Anna LOVES to be the one giving (instead of receiving) the tickles. Again, a power thing in a safe kind of way, and a game that is hilarious to all involved.
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