Learning on the job

Editor’s note: This column first published Nov. 1, 2016.

As a parent, I learn something new every day. The older the girls get, the more new territory we cover, and the more I come up with things off of the top of my head to explain questions I’m never prepared to answer.

So far, nothing too crazy has come up. Thanks to their creative thinking and what they learned from animals, the girls think babies come from eggs, and, for now, I’m cool with that. I hear the new movie “Storks” will provide a more concrete answer to the same question and tide me over for several more years.

A new topic that has come up are boys and how the girls feel about them. Growing up, I had my first “boyfriend” in kindergarten, so I shouldn’t have been surprised when my oldest daughter told me about a boy she liked. She told me he has a nice face and she thinks he is funny. I know it is just the beginning, but it opened up a whole new world of boys and how to deal with them that I’m not quite sure I’m ready to handle.

My youngest daughter also has her eyes set on one boy and everyone knows it. I had no idea until we were at Target over the summer and I heard a squeal of excitement when she saw him. He had the same reaction, and it has grown ever since.

She will tell me about him and what he likes, always in a voice of admiration. It has even gone as far as her running back to blow him a kiss as she was leaving for the day.

I have to say it is completely adorable and I can’t wait to see them grow up, as best friends if nothing else.

With my oldest daughter in school full time, I am also beginning to hear stories about kids not always being nice. For the most part, it hasn’t been anything I am concerned about. There is one kid who tends to be a reoccurring character in the drama, but mostly as an overall troublemaker and not solely directed at my kid.

When I hear my kid is upset because of something another kid has done or said, I immediately want to take action to make my kiddo feel better and set the other kid straight. Thanks to life experience, I know that is not the way to handle minor disagreements and dealing with the issue themselves will help them grow and learn to be problem solvers in life.

When an issue does make its way home, I always ask to see what my kiddo did in response. For the most part, I think she has done really well. She can recognize when it is an accident and takes the appropriate action to settle the matter, whether that be telling an adult or trying to work it out among themselves.

I know as the years go on and the issues become bigger or more life impacting, it will take a lot of restraint to let my kids learn for themselves. I hope I have the patience and the grace to watch from just far enough away for my kids to grow up and learn lessons to help them become well-rounded adults.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson
at jpierson@newtondailynews.com