Promises & Purple Jawas

One of the most important parenting values to me is keeping my promises. Promises made to a child are sacred. I want my daughter to be able to know without a doubt that when I promise her something, I really mean it. Never do I want it to be a phrase used to placate her, made with out any intention of remembering it. At times it is difficult to do and so tempting to conveniently forget mention of a cookie made earlier in the day when she doesn't seem to remember it at the time when it was promised. But I hate the thought of ignoring a promise so much that I will remind her of it instead.

Sometimes a promise will turn out to be a nice surprise, like the one fulfilled this morning. When evening came last night and A-chan wanted desperately to go play in her sandbox I had explained that we couldn't since it was dark but that I promised to go play with her in the sandbox first thing after breakfast today. And so we did. What really surprised me was how wonderfully pleasant the morning turned out to be. The weather was perfect with bright blue skies and fluffy white clouds and little breezes. It was a fantastic morning to spend outside. Realistically, without making that promise I might not have even opened the windows this morning!

It becomes a bit more of a sticky issue when the promise occurs months in advance. Like the one I made this evening. It began with a silly question and evolved into the invention of the purple jawa song. My husband maintains that he is completely innocent in this matter and takes none of the blame. But I have now promised that A-chan can dress up as a purple jawa at Dragoncon this year. Will she remember it in 4 months? With the help of the catchy theme song I'm betting that she will.

"I want to be a purple jaaaawaaaa,
At Dragon - Con this year!"