Magoo is working on earning a religious medal for the scouting program she is in. The first portion of the medal explores how she is special to her family. One of the requirements was to make a mobile representing four different feelings she experiences. To be honest, I was hoping she would have chosen one of the less craft-intensive activities, but it’s her medal, so I followed her lead, and we ended up having a lot of fun doing it.
Per the requirement, she drew pictures of what she looks like when she is experiencing these emotions, and then to take it a step further and really help her grow in understanding, we made a list on the back of each picture detailing some circumstance that trigger these emotions in her.
The four feelings we chose were happiness, sadness, anger, and fear. She had an easy time coming up with things that make her happy. Some were significant like family, and some were more trivial like rainbows. The entire back of that circle was filled with things that make her happy.
She also didn’t have too much trouble coming up with things that make her fearful. All she did was basically list every type of bug she could think up.
But when it came to anger and sadness, she had more trouble. She ended up listing some annoyances with her sisters and time outs. And that was about all she could come up with.
And that made me think. She is a happy girl. Her sisters are happy girls. And this is amazing.
I worry constantly about my three little ladies. I worry that I am steering them in the right direction. I worry that I’m intellectually stimulating them enough. I worry about their relationships and if I’m modeling healthy relationships with oneself and others. I could go on and on.
But through all this worry, I don’t think I take enough time to just sit back and realize just how amazing it is that my girls are happy.
I know they will go through ups and downs in life. Things won’t always be simple or easy. But I pray so fervently that they are able to maintain this center of joy throughout their lives. I can’t help but think that if they do, they shouldn’t stray too far from their chosen paths.
And so perhaps Magoo learned a bit more about emotions through this project, but I think even more so, I learned more about her. And I learned that maybe it’s okay to let go just a little bit and let them walk their course. They are doing pretty well so far.