The Right Path

We have a pretty set routine in the morning. After the girls finish breakfast, I get everyone dressed, teeth brushed, beds made, etc. then we head down to the basement where they play in the toy room while I do my exercise on our elliptical machine down there. Yesterday must have been a pretty rough day for the workout as I was so focused on the fact that the "time elapsed" part of the elliptical's display screen seemed to be defying the laws of time by moving so slow, that I didn't realize what was developing right next to me. Nina and Lyla had taken every single book out of the toy room bookshelf and were making a path that stretched from one room in the basement to the next. They seemed to be playing so well together and happily chattering to each other as I saw them running back and forth that I didn't think to actually notice why that was happening. (FYI - in the Simpson household when things seem to be "too good to be true" generally there is a reason for that and one goes looking to see what kind of mischief is being performed instead.)

After I finished my workout, I was informed that they were making an important path, and every action Nina performed, Lyla would copy. If Nina ran into the toy room to get more books while making silly noises, Lyla did the exact same thing. When Nina bumped her head into the bottom of the trapeeze and said, "Ummph", Lyla would run to the trapeeze, stand under it on her tippy toes and try to make it bump her head, and she would say, "ummph". Anything that Nina did, Lyla would copy. We see this a lot actually. Anyway, as they're walking on the books, Nina turns to me and says, "Mom, we're on the right path," and it later got me thinking - I hope so.

Right now, there is a very clearly defined leader and follower. Nina is always the leader and Lyla the follower. Obviously that has a lot more to do with age right now than a prediction of personality, but it does make you think ahead to the future a bit. If one does turn out to be more of a follower by nature, you hope she follows someone headed in the right direction. However, if one does turn out to be more of a leader than a follower, you hope that she's the type of girl that leads herself and her friends down the right path. You hope she's confident and caring and uses her leadership to actually do things to make a difference for the better around her. I just finished a book entitled Half the Sky, and it's so clear that girls who are raised in a culture that values them and who have opportunities to pursue their dreams can do amazing things, but so many girls and women all over the world are never even given the opportunity to be seen as valuable or worthy of investment. That doesn't mean that a girl who is a leader has to change the world, but it makes you hope your girls use their opportunity and influence for good things.

But since they're 4 and 2, I'll just settle for them leading each other down the path of less whining and more good listening. That would be the world of change the Simpson household would be happy to see!