Let Them Be Little

     It's Wednesday night. It's a school night. I mentioned to Elizabeth, my kindergartner, that we have to do homework. She ignored me because she was playing school. She was writing on her dry erase board asking me how to spell Mrs. "I know it starts with an M." A few minutes later, I noticed she had the letter 's' written multiple times in neat rows with Mrs. Elizabeth at the top.
     I continued with other things I needed to get done. I put some notes in for work, talked to my mom, helped Kenna wash her hands, brush her teeth, changed her diaper and put her to bed. In the mean time, Elizabeth changed her clothes. She bounced out of her bedroom and declared, "LOOK! I am a police officer!" I said, "awesome!" She ran outside with dad and the dog.
     Shortly after I went outside to find her and Bella to get ready for bed. I barely made it into the garage when Elizabeth comes running into the garage in high heels, nerf gun slung over her shoulder. Pop bottles went flying, she jumped over them and Bella followed.  I quickly responded, "slow down! It's time for bed Elizabeth." She immediately responded, "I'm not Elizabeth! I am a police officer and my name is Brooklyn." She walked over to the fridge and pointed out were she had posted the laws. "The laws are posted and I have to enforce them!"
     No assigned homework has been done tonight. We will catch up tomorrow, because its important for her to learn about work ethic and following through with tasks given, even at five. As an adult and a teacher, it seems silly to me to have her repeat skills over and over that she has already mastered.  Sometimes, though, we have to do things we don't want to. Sometimes we just have to, and this is something children have to learn at young age.
     But tonight,  I let her be little. Tonight, I let her play.