Last night’s daycare pick up was a major battle.  Zoe wanted to put her coat on herself, but couldn’t quite get it right and so was frustrated, and angry, and didn’t want help, and basically, was being a typical 2 year old.  Being in Minnesota, going outside without a coat was not an option, so I ended up trying to get an extremely upset (but bundled) child into her carseat.  She was really worked up, so I took her glasses off pre-emptively so she wouldn’t get angry and pull them off or throw them or break them.

“Glasses!  Glasses!  No glasses off!  No mommy!  Glasses on!” She sobbed harder.

She hasn’t taken off her glasses in anger in months now, so I don’t know why I was worried.  I think I was just flustered, and honestly embarrassed at having to deal with her tantrum in front of other parents and her daycare teachers.  I shouldn’t have taken her glasses off, though.  What a horrible thing to do, to just snatch away something that aids her vision without her permission.  Of course she got upset.  I apologized, and lied, and told her I was just wiping them off since they got wet from crying.  I felt like I needed to give her some justification for taking her glasses.  I’m still learning this parenting thing.

So new rule:  No taking glasses off without asking first.  And Zoe has to follow the rule, too. I don’t want her taking my glasses off.  If we ran into another child with glasses, I wouldn’t want her to take that child’s glasses off.  But mostly, I want her to stick up for herself and tell other people that it’s not ok to just take her glasses away.  So I will ask now, before taking her glasses off, or at least warn her that I’m taking them before just snatching them away.