My 5 year old daughter has developed quite the attitude recently. Before, it was the occasional tantrum when things didn’t go exactly her way. Now, it’s more complex where she will agree to do something, but do it begrudgingly with an attitude.

Life wasn’t like this a few months ago. Things were in smoother waters and my daughter was just sweet to everyone around for the most part. She still is, but every now and then, the attitude will turn up. As a parent, I need to handle it with grace since oftentimes, it can lead to a power struggle and argument if you try to counter an attitude with your very own.

This morning, my 4 year old son was home sick and my daughter wanted to watch something different because whatever Spidey and Friends episode that was on was going to scare her. It lead to a situation where she needed to walk away, but it led to a screaming match between the two of them. When my wife and I tried to ask her to leave him be since he was sick, she agreed, but with attitude. Something similar happened in the afternoon.

I know as she gets older, the attitude will be a good thing to have - it gives her an edge that she can use when needed. I don’t want to completely extinguish it, especially at home. What I want to do is to slowly nurture it and for her to use it sparingly, but with purpose. I’ll try to be more like water when the attitude pops up to flow around it and over time, hopefully she will know it doesn’t work on me and to test it out on others.