8 things mums of little girls know

Things mums of little girls know

So you have a little girl?

Sometimes she drives you up the wall, other times you just melt at the stuff she does.

The good, the bad and the ugly, here are 8 things that Mums of little girls everywhere know.

Colour me Pink

Some researchers have said it’s social conditioning. Whatever it is, it inundates everything. Her clothes, her shoes, her socks, her nail polish, her stationery. A week ago, I caught her trying to use the marker to colour her hair pink because she saw someone on television have pink hair. 2 days ago, she asked if she could colour the entire floor pink – our beautiful wooden parquet floor. If you ever buy her a toy that is not pink in colour, no matter how fun it might be, it will just remain at the bottom of the pile and collect dust.

Well, apparently they grow out of it. My friend who has a teenage girl attests to that. Now she only wears black. Black lipstick, black shoes and black bag.

Maybe I should be grateful for pink?

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Chatter - lots of it

Girls learn to talk earlier than boys. They also talk a lot more than boys. This means a steady stream of chatter all the time from when she wakes up till she sleeps. A lot of the chatter will be made of questions which she will persistently badger adults around her to answer – "Why" will be your most dreaded word in the vocabulary.

When no one is around to entertain her, my daughter talks to her soft toys or reads stories to them. Like Harper Beckham in the photo, she has tea parties with them.

Before she could form intelligible sentences, my daughter and my husband would hold entire conversations in a gibberish language complete with animated hand gestures.

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Daddy has a special place in her heart that no one else can replace

While not every girl is Daddy’s girl (like for me, she makes it clear I am her favourite parent), your girl will have a soft spot for Daddy that she won’t have for anyone else.

While my daughter expects me to protect and nurture her, sometimes, she will reverse the parent-child role with her father and become the nurturing parent with him. Papa gets away with a lot more things than Mummy does and when Papa is sick, Papa can be waited on hand and foot by his little helper.

I think a lot of it has to do with our parenting roles. Mummy is the serious one who nags about toys and manners, Papa is the clown who always has a smile and a hug for his little girl.

Nonetheless, it’s heartwarming to see the little tot mothering and sheltering him in her own tiny way.

She will know just the right thing to say to the right person

I have noticed girls tend to be more intuitively aware of social dynamics at an earlier age. There are some people she will try everything with, and others with whom she will be meek as a mouse to. She knows when you are angry or unhappy, and she will adjust her behaviour accordingly

This means, she asks for sweets and everything else frivolous from her grandparents but never from us. The worst tantrums are also always reserved for our helper who dotes on her like a little princess. Ask her teachers, however, and they will attest to the fact that she doesn’t have a temper. Anything critical she might have to say about someone will never be repeated when the person she is criticizing is around.

Clothes shopping is very enjoyable

A large part of the joy of having a little girl is that you get to dress up a life-sized doll that grows! Little girls just have so much more fashion choices than little boys. From their cute little dresses to their shoes and the hair accessories, you will enjoy parading her around in her new outfits.

Most girls enjoy the fashion parade and the attention as much as you enjoy buying the lovely clothes, so win win!

You will buy her at least one Frozen dress

That said, there is an exception to the shopping is fun thing. Every little girl I know has a Frozen dress. Did you know that cinemas even organize Frozen sing-a-long sessions during the holidays that little girls go to, dressed in their Elsa dresses? Everywhere you turn, there is an Elsa.

One day, she saw an Anna dress (another character from the movie, for the uninitiated), she immediately shrieked and insisted on buying it. I relented because it is a different dress from the one she has. Bad idea. The clothes retailers seem to have caught on to the trend and practically everywhere there are replicas of the dresses now. And everytime now, she begs us to get her yet another one.

When I subsequently refused, she decided that her younger male cousins could be Sven (reindeer) and Olaf (snowman). Of course, they had to have the Frozen costumes so they could be in character.

Now during family gatherings, at her insistence, half the Frozen cast is in attendance.

She will sing "Let It Go" at least 100 times after she watches the movie

Get the ear plugs ready because she will sing it, and not stop. Not if she has food in her mouth, not if she is in the toilet, not if you take her out with you. Sometimes, it will be loud, with great gusto, other times, it will be under her breath. But, believe me, you will hear it all 100 times.

If your girl loves dancing, like mine does, she will mimick the moves and pretend she’s Elsa. It’s cute, oh maybe, the first 10 times.

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Aesthetics are the be-all and end-all

Girls can literally boil everything down to how aesthetically appealing it is.

For instance, her food preferences depends on how good it looks. Doesn’t matter if she has never tasted it before. Forget about getting her to eat anything green.

Or in a movie, there is a femme fatale who does something morally dubious – Did she just kill the good guy? But she’s so pretty. She has to be the good guy. The guy she killed must have done something wrong. So what if she has tentacles growing out of her hands? She's gorgeous. Good guy.

Last week I asked her if she loves me. She said yes, because you are pretty.

I guess I should be happy she finds me pretty?

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Written by

Leigh Fan

daughtersmums with daughtersstrong woman