A Free Range Childhood

I had never been into kids very much until my oldest daughter was born, so I wasn’t paying much attention to other people’s kids. I didn’t know what the norm was for dressing babies so I just dressed her in what seemed sensible. 

Frilly little dresses didn’t seem sensible on a baby who couldn’t walk. She was born in the middle of winter and I thought her legs would be cold in dresses. So I mostly kept her in little sleepers or something practical. 

But Grandmother was of a different mind so there eventually were frilly dresses available. 

As soon as my daughter was old enough it was the frilly dresses she always wanted to wear. She was a cute little kid and it was fun to dress her up like that. I had always liked dolls, so I relented and let her be frilly. ‘Prissy’ her little sister and I came to call her. 

When the little sister came, her big sister and I had great fun dressing her up as our little doll. And as soon as she was old enough she too had her own mind. Frilly was never her style. When she was two years old she asked Santa Claus for a pair of blue jeans and an alligator. I managed to find her a little stuffed alligator that year for Christmas. 

 I still have that alligator somewhere. It’s a reminder that children are not our creations, but gifts.