Life with a three-year-old is never dull – to say the least. She is always watching and thus I’m always “on”. She is learning from me and those around her about what is acceptable and not acceptable. She is learning about the big things in life like fairness, justice, integrity and consequences.

Like every other parent out there, I worry that in the process of learning right from wrong and good from bad, that she will lose her spark and devalue her uniqueness. In the process of training her to be conscious of her actions and their consequences (conscious of her “self”), I am afraid of her becoming self-conscious.

In this world, we each have to learn to walk that tightrope – and for many of us it’s a constant struggle.  [Read more…]