GIVING IN

Taking a break from DIY projects and decorating today to share a little lesson I learned this past week.  You see, my nine year old daughter wanted a feather in her hair.  It's all the rage here.  She had asked me several times over the summer and I kind of put it off thinking she would forget about it.  Well, that didn't happen and when school started last week, the inquiries began again.  Although this time, it was more like "everybody has one but me".  This isn't entirely true, as I know of at least one other girl in her class that is featherless. I questioned her about why she wanted something everybody else has.  I encouraged her to be a trend setter, not a trend follower and I even went to far as to make her a headband with feathers on it, thinking she would think it was so "cool".  

After shattering her dreams and telling her that a feather was not in her future, I talked to my husband about it.  I really thought he would be on the same page with me.  When I explained the situation to him, his response was "what's the big deal, aren't they just $10?" 

I then thought to myself, what IS the big deal?  I'm sure there are going to be times when she pleads her case for something that is completely inappropriate and I will definitely have to stand my ground.  But in this case,  a little feather in her hair really ISN'T a big deal.  I decided to give in and let her get the feather.  The look on her face when I told her was worth all the worrying I did about it.  She even asked me what made me change my mind.  I told her I talked to her daddy and we decided that if she really wanted a feather, she would have to do four chores (in addition to her regular two chores) over the weekend to cover the cost of the feather.  She happily obliged and we went Saturday to get the feather. 

Here it is....

I gave her free reign to pick out any feather she wanted.  However, I strongly discouraged the bright yellow and black striped feather and I nudged her in the direction of this smaller less conspicuous one.

I am not a big trend follower now.  However, when I was nine, of course I wanted to wear my hair like my friends and wear the latest fashions.  I can't fault her for being a normal nine year old little girl.  

One other reason I was anti-feather is because she has the most beautiful hair and I didn't think she needed anything added to it to make it special.  One of the many, many times we will disagree, I'm sure. 

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of her (and her hair) through the years.  

I normally wear my hair straight, but lately, my daughter's curls 

have inspired me to go natural. 

This is what my hair looks like without doing much to it. 

Feels so odd taking pictures of yourself in the mirror. 

It's so much easier wearing it this way.  I think I'll follow her trend for a while.  

 (not the feather, the curls!)

One last thing, Lauren from West Furniture Revival featured a few of my projects today from last week's Revival Monday party.  Lauren is an avid thriftier and turns her finds into masterpieces.  Check some of them out here.   Thanks so much, Lauren, for the kind words.