Black Swan Parenting

At some point during Black Swan, I asked myself, "At what point does a child need to start cutting their own fingernails?" So far I have narrowed it down to somewhere between 3 and when they become a prima ballerina. In the meantime, it's a weekly struggle between Jack and me. We recently came to the agreement that after every bath, I can cut one toe's worth of toe nails. But the deal has to be renegotiated every time.

After tonight's bath, Jack was running around the house in his towel pretending that it was a cape, as 3 year olds are wont to do. I could tell he was stalling, but I wasn't in a hurry so I let it play out. He finally came back into the bathroom and said, "Oh. I realize why I was tricking you by running around. It's because I don't want my nails to be cut."

Thanks for sharing that bit of self-discovery Jack.

Then, when I was promising it wouldn't hurt, he said, "It WILL hurt. Because of gravity. Gravity makes things fall down. I learned that on Sesame Street yesterday. See? Gravity, I told you."