Bathtub Serenade

Well, Spilly is sitting in the bath at the moment, bellowing at the top of her lungs. I think she is singing rock and roll. The words I just caught were, "I DON'T KNOW HO---OW TO MAKE MY PARENTS LOVE ME!"

It's a reprise of last night's concert, as she sang the same thing then. Afterward, as we were snuggled up together, I said to her, "Guess what? I've got news for you. You don't have to figure out how to make us love you, cause we already do."

"That wasn't ME singing," she said.

"Who was it?"

"It was Robbie."

"Robbie was singing?"

"Because of the naughty corner," she said.

"Ohhh," I said. "I see."

"It makes him sad," she said.

Her good friend seems to get in trouble a lot, and has several times been sent to the "naughty corner" in Spilly's presence. The first time Robbie was sent to the naughty corner in front of her, she went and sat down beside him. "Don't worry, Robbie. I'll sit in the naughty corner with you." It possibly negated the punitive nature of the moment.

I have always figured she accepted the whole thing as normal--that Robbie's parents disciplined him in this way, and that hers did not. But this talk of ours showed that she is beginning to weigh issues larger than her tiny sphere. She's beginning to think about different styles of parenting and even, it seems, to pass judgment on what she thinks is positive discipline and what is not.

I thought inwardly about how remarkable it feels that my little sage is processing the world so adroitly. I wonder if we would all change our parenting styles if we could get solid feedback from our little ones?

"Well, I said, "I think you have a very kind heart."

And now, I think, I must have another talk with her--to make it clear that Robbie's parents do, indeed, love him with all their hearts, just as much as I love my Spills.