Well, we could go back and forth on microparenting stuff here, but rest assured that we do try to give her as much freedom as possible while also watching out for her best interest (eg--she would like to stay up till all hours reading, but she is a very unpleasant person the next day if she does that, so no). And as with everyone else here, I'm sure, her needs and desires have to subsumed to the larger family needs at times, so she may want to stay home and do something, but the fact is that DH and I need to go to XYZ place and I don't consider her old enough to stay home alone for four hours, etc. Or, she doesn't like what's for dinner and wants to cook her own meal using a new cookbook, but I really don't have the patience or time at that moment because we need to get out the door to another activity. You can imagine. It's stuff that isn't exactly unreasonable, per se, and could work if one was an adult, but isn't really practical for a child. And it's just life. KWIM? Yeah. It's hard to get around.
