The Duality of Pride

When Grace was finally old enough to learn shapes (a couple of years ago) Jim was not content to stick to just teaching our kids the typical circle, triangle, square. Right away it was all about pentagons, hexagons, octagons, etc. It's amazing how kids can recognize those shapes so easily- they don't have to start by counting sides, they just recognize it by sight if you teach them early enough. We almost never talk about them, but she notices shapes often and can recognize what they are (like when she points out that STOP signs are octagons).

Anyway, we were at the library last week, enjoying the very cool new travelling exhibit about bugs. There is a huge (to a 2 year old) beehive that you can take apart and learn about the life of the bee/how bees are made/how they make honey. As we were looking at all the parts, Grace took the cap off a cell and asked, "Mommy, what are the hexagons for?"

My Point: In that moment I realized I was feeling two kinds of pride. Initially, I was just really proud of her for knowing the shape and went on to explain to her what it was for, etc. Then, as I was talking I noticed that other people had heard her and were surprised that she knew the shape and thought it was cute. Enter the tinge of pride that came when I knew other people thought my daughter was really smart. It gave me a huge feeling of BLAGH. The very thing I can't stand seeing in other people and I hate seeing in myself seems to show up with no warning. Praise the Lord He's not done with me yet!