I am one of those "anal" people that you hear about. Not on everything, but on somethings. Somethings have to be absolutely perfect, dress-right-dress, lined up, stacked right, color-coordinated, sorted...you get the idea. I'm not Obsessive-Compulsive, but certain things I get twitchy if I don't get to do them the way I want. Often times I would rather do it myself that have someone else do it "different."
This is a homeschool lesson that I've been teaching MYSELF. It is so hard for me to not jump in there and do projects FOR the girls. I have to keep smacking my own hands down and zipping my mouth shut, so that I can sit back and just WATCH the girls work on a project. It doesn't matter what it is (cooking, crafting, puzzles, worksheets, reading, figuring the meaning of life), I want to jump in there sooooo badly and "fix it." Only I have to "gently" (SMACK! ZIP!) remind myself that this is how they learn, by doing it themselves. And they are so proud of themselves for doing it themselves, and I am so proud of them for doing it themselves, and I am so proud of myself for not smacking myself as much as I did during their last project.
For example, I really relaxed my standards on the Christmas Tree this year. I didn't go back behind them (SMACK! ZIP!) and rearrange the tree when they weren't looking! I did get the top half of the tree to myself (they are only 4 feet tall, after all), so maybe I was satisfied with having the top tree to myself. And I let them build the gingerbread house by themselves (SMACK! ZIP!), and I didn't tell them how to arrange the colors of gumdrops!
Homeschool truly teaches the whole family. Now if I could just train the dog to quit pooping in the closet. He gets the poop lined up just right, dress-right-dress, in the exact same spot each time...
