I think the “limit to two things” is good. Maybe expand to three? You seem to know her enough to atr least get the choices narrowed down.

Maybe she can help you with the JDate guys!

Here’s something a little off topic: Remember when you complained about car repair? A coworker sent me a video about Jiffy Lube ripoffs in the LA area. So I am posting a link plus a followup:

http://mfile.akamai.com/12924/wmv/vod.ibsys.com/2006/0503/9152183.200k.asx

Followup:

http://www.nbc4.tv/investigations/9879404/detail.html

Hope you like it!

What’s a “Little?”

What you are doing with your Little — giving her a choice between A and B is exactly the way to teach her to make decisions. (I do this sort of thing all day long.) You may want to let her come up with an A and B and then you can choose the activity, too. Eventually, she will be able to make up her own mind.

Go Tigers! Boo, Evil Yankees! (Let’s Go Mets!)

Yom Kippur put me way behind on my TV watching.

You will totally be able to relate to this.

Someone has to stop the madness before the jean folding starts. I can’t take it.

First, jean folding is back. I teach at a high school and when I see it, and I DO, I just quietly roll my eyes to myself and hope that puffy socks outside jeans with keds does not come back.

As for the little, Hil, I just read a GREAT article about this very thing. It’s a bit long but worth reading the whole thing. It’s about raising children using teaching from Torah and Talmud. This is NOT about raising religious children, just about values. And, one of the main things the woman discusses is letting our children make choices and mistakes in order to be able to go out in the real world and survive. I think you would appreciate it and who knows, maybe your little’s mom might like it? Here’s the link. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/01/magazine/01parenting.html?ex=1160625600&en=bb62aad54360b77d&ei=5070

Ron: Thanks, I did see that when it aired. And interestingly enough, the Jiffy Lube I went to did in fact have cameras. We’ll see if they ever respond to my letter!

A: My Little is the little girl I volunteer as a Big Sister to.

Essie: That post is hysterical, but I have to admit that our TV is on while we’re home between services. But I could still identify!

Giving two choices to a kid is the best way to start on independent decision-making.

Is she an introvert? My daughter just turned 15, is an introvert, loves to follow direction, and still has a hard time making decisions. It really seems to be a temperament thing. I am her polar opposite, but we get along really well (so far).

Of course, a stable home life frees you in so many ways. But our home is very loving and secure, and my little introvert would rather have me decide MANY things.

that she wants revenge song is my current favorite too. love it.

Vincent is crazy, but you gotta love him. Who do you think will win?

Am I the only one that loves Studio 60? I have seen 2 and am so looking forward to catching up. It is really entertaining and I love the actors.

Laura, I SO want Michael to win…who do you want?

hilary, i was just out of the country for a few weeks and i’ve enjoyed catching up on your blog now that i’m back. glad to hear you’re trying out jdate again - hopefully it’ll be great! oh, and i really want michael to win on project runway - he’s awesome. and his designs are pretty flawless. i’m looking forward to seeing all of their fashion week designs!

Yes! Vincent was so, so funny. But I’m so over the whole drama with Angela’s mom. Enough already.

I hate Jeffrey’s stuff and I’m not a fan of him personally, but I’m torn about the others. Laura’s stuff is beautiful and I would totally wear it. Also I love that she has all those kids and is still stylish and ambitious. Uli’s stuff all looks the same, but it is all really pretty, and she’s a sweetheart. Michael is just awesome on both personal and creative fronts. So I guess he’s my pick.

darling - there better be no Tigers/Padres because you know what that would mean for your Sister in Spinsterhood from NYC, right? Right?

Go Yankees!!

Randi - Evil Yankees? What?!?! I hex you.

And Julia - I’m watching Studio 60 too and I LOVE it. I am so Aaron Sorkin’s bitch. I really like the Sarah and Matthew thing.

I got Motorola Phone Tools to download pictures from my razr. Make sure you update the tools to the lastest version via internet. Also I recomend to use bluetooth connection, if not, USB 2.0 is a minimum.

I’ve been rooting for michael since the coffee filter dress. his design is flawless, he’s warm and gracious - I just love him. vincent is clearly delusional.

I just can’t get into sorkin stuff. he’s just a little too smug.

The “two choices” thing seems the best way to go. In one grocery store experiment with free jelly samples, more customers purchased jelly when they were offered one or two brands to sample than those who were given several brands to try. Plus, research has shown that people who make decisions they know they’ll have to stick with end up happier than those who know they could change their minds at a later date. (Which is, I think, why JDate guys have a tendency to get picked up by “the bus”…)

I think the two options trick should work well. If you really want to encourage her to choose any option for herself, you could also try to find an appropriate way to impose time limits when she’s left with a infinite number of choices. That might balance independence with structure, so she can’t spend all afternoon deciding which flavor of ice cream to get but still has a true say in what flavor she picks.