Hi there,

Our children grow up in all different quirky and wonderful ways. Some milestones we embrace warmly -- the first steps, the first lost tooth, the first crush. Others we don't even like to touch with a ten-foot pole. Like, for instance, make-up.

This morning I was reminded it was picture day at school. No problem, I thought. I just did laundry yesterday and most of it was even folded. So everyone had good clean clothes to wear. All done, right? Wrong! Okay, Milo was easy: throw clothes at him and make it a race to see how fast he can get dressed. No different from any other morning. I suspect the same will be true when Willa goes to Kindergarten after lunch. However, not only did I have to send Neva back to change out of the seasonally inappropriate outfit she had first picked out, but I had to deal with the thorn in every "tween" mother's side: make-up.

She came to the kitchen looking like she had Fifth Disease, cheeks as red as beets. I did my best to gently tell her that you need to learn how to apply make-up before you can wear it and to please go clean up. I also did my best to gently tell her that I didn't think it was either appropriate or necessary for 10-year-olds to wear make up other than for play.

After she stormed from room to room, yelling about the likelihood that I'd never let her wear make-up, that she was going to look ugly in her picture just like every year, how I was the worst mother ever, and she wasn't even going to school anymore, the only thing I could do was pull her into my arms and love her. She cried. She yelled. She hurled insults. But we could discuss it all later, when everyone's calmer.

Sometimes you just need to hold your kid. And your tongue!

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

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