Elsa has been hassling me again about wanting to make over her room. I’ve had my reservations about it because she’s so prone to changing her mind, and I don’t want to shell out a bunch of cash for something she’s not going to want to live with in six months. But she’s been going on about this for long enough that I’m starting to come onboard. Even if she does change her mind, it could be a good lesson in dealing with the consequences of making a decision.
Her whimsical approach to life is really quite endearing, I have to admit. She wants the room to be reminiscent of an enchanted forest. She has a practical side, too, having done her research and presented me with a plan to buy wallpaper online. Apparently, any image of her choosing can be digitally printed as a custom order. To top off her argument, the wallpaper is non-toxic and self-adhesive, meaning the hanging can be a DIY job.
How can a parent say no to that? The kid is clearly working both hemispheres of the brain, and that should be rewarded. Given that she seems to know more than I do about ordering custom kids wallpaper, I’m inclined to just hand over my credit card and leave the job to her. If she could hang it as well, she’d have virtually a full suite of life skills, and she’d be ready to move out (just joking… Elsa is nine).
I’ll order it myself. But I’m thinking it could be an opportunity to introduce her to the concept of budgeting. Is that weird, to get your kid to make up a spreadsheet for items required to realise her room concept? As far as I can see, it’s a great opportunity for a maths lesson, but I’ve been known to push the ‘educational opps’ card a bit to hard. In my defence, you can hardly accuse me of quashing her creativity – I’m the one paying for this enchanted forest bedroom, after all.