You can lead a horse to water

Over the years, I can't tell you how many times I heard those fateful words "Because I said so". Being a rather curious sort of person, I probably muttered in my head thousands of times that I was never going to utter those words. I was especially not going to utter those words with exasperation, disgust or temper in my voice. Not I. Like many parents before me, I have been forced to "eat" those words as I found myself shaking my head in both wonder and disgust as I said "Because I said so". So, what got me to that point in my day?

There is another adage that also rang true today. "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink." In our rather frozen climate, such as it is, the balmy -22 degrees Celcius seems a rather cold, icy, frigid way to wake up in the morning. More so, the wind was biting and ice pellets stung the eyes. One of the first things I do in the morning is get up, dress and start the van.

I am an odd creature. I like to be warm. In fact, I love to be toasty warm. I can be bundled up with winter woolies, scarves, mittens and toque and still be cold. I can race out to the van, turn the key and race back in without a coat but I have to have a hot drink soon thereafter to mitigate the effects. Oh yes, I feel the cold.

However, apparently I have a child that seems to think that winter is a joke. The cold must be a figment of my imagination. She came prancing down the stairs today in a white tinkerbell dress. Might I add that it was sleeveless? No tights nor sweater were worn. This was her choice of outfit for school. I marched her back up the stairs and pointed out the purple fleece pants and matching sweater and bade her change. Well, a few minutes later, she came prancing down the stairs in a white tinkerbell dress.  We repeated the process, but then I realized that if I didn't hurry up, the other princess would miss her coach ride to the school.

Frantically, I gathered up backpacks and lunches, hauling them to the van. The children were supposedly getting into their winter kit. Now, the elder child rather is like me. She loves to be warm and will wear a winter coat in summertime. No worries there so I turned my attention back to the other muppet. My youngest conceded that I wasn't about to let her go out in her tinkerbell dress. So, she pranced down the stairs in beige leggings, white long sleeved shirt and...the tinkerbell dress. She fought me on snowpants and snow jacket. And as the almost properly attired (for -30 degree weather including windchill) child left the house, she piped up "How come I have to wear all this stuff because you're cold?"

"Because I don't want you to get pneumonia and because I said so!" The door slammed and the key turned in the lock. Battle won. Or was it? She got off the bus this afternoon wearing her snowboots and her jacket. The rest of the winter gear was in her backpack. The zipper was not done up. She skipped merrily home through the snow and ice, blending in rather nicely.

I shook my head in disgust. You can lead a horse to water...so true.