Dandelions - a girl obsessed

Chiquita LOVES "sunflowers", what she calls dandelions even though she knows their real name. It started maybe 3 weeks ago when spring really started. She picked them in our yard and at playgrounds. She stopped walks wailing to pick flowers. And she didn't stop at picking them. They had to go in cups of water, which Yo Gabba Gabba had taught her they needed to grow. One time she'd picked some on our way to the park and started crying to go home. After some discussion I figured out she was concerned for her dandelions. A cup of water rescued park playtime.

You may not know but, dandelions don't do well once picked. They disintegrate within an hour. At this moment I have  a big cup of dandelion mush on my counter.

Perhaps some of you pragmatic moms wonder why I don't just throw them away or keep them out of the house to start with. I remember being 3 or 4 and picking my mom a "beautiful" bouquet of dandelions and she told me to get the weeds out of her house. I was hurt!  I just wanted to show her my love.  Before you think my mom was heartless though, I have to say she dutifully cherished the apricot blossoms from the neighbor's tree, even though she'd specifically told us not to pick them because it would stop the apricots from growing, and her own flowers we accidentally ripped up by the roots. She kept our kindergarten pictures and first stories.  Despite that, so many years later, I think of that day and decide to keep the mushy dandelions another day or so.

The point of the story really isn't dandelions or my mom. Rather that I remember that incident and it has influenced my parenting decisions. I'm not suggesting we indulge our children every time, just to remember that we were kids too and their feelings really aren't different than ours, just inside smaller bodies.