Decoration of Independence

Our child thinks she’s old enough to take on the world. She insists on doing most everything by 'self, including swimming (Dana Torres she ain’t), bathing, and voting for the president of the United States of America. We hate to squelch her youthful exuberance, and so we try to let her do as much as she wants or is able to within the boundaries of law, time, and safety. With these parameters in mind, we nixed her request to carve the family pumpkin by herself but encouraged her to decorate her little gourds with markers.