The Problem With Making Lists

You don't have to look far these days to find lists of 10 ways to raise a strong daughter, 10 things to teach your daughter, 50 things to experience with your daughter before she's 10, 10 things to teach your daughter about her body and dating...

It's becoming a bit overkill.

And the problem with so many lists, is if I spend so much time working on checking off individual things on this list, I might miss out on the glorious things that happen in life when you're not making any plans.

I want my girl to be nice and kind and brave.

I want her to be adventurous but also aware and cautious.

I want her to know she can come to me if she's scared or nervous or curious and I'll respect her feelings.

I want her to do everything and anything that forms her into the person she'll become.

But more than any list, I want to be present for her, and that means getting my ass of this post and doing a bit of coloring. If I devoted less time to reading lists on Pinterest and the HuffPo, and more time to getting on the floor and helping put Elsa's shoes on her little doll feet for the billionth time, I'm already doing what the lists call for, and then some.

Because this face doesn't give a crap about how many items her mommy checks off a list. She just wants me to look at her, see her joy and share that moment of awesome headscarf-wearing cuteness. It'll only last a couple seconds before she's onto the next thing, and it's up to me to be smart enough not to miss it.