The Ebay Queen Lets Go

Unschooling

21 May

The daring trees are undressing top down in public. Thin naked limbs emerge from rustling skirts of faded yellow leaves that swirl over knobbly knees.

“Do you remember your Pumpkin Patch skirts?” I ask my daughter. “Do you remember how I bid for them on eBay?”

Eyes fastened to the computer screen, shaky forefinger hovering over the keyboard, hardly daring to breathe, I waited until the last second to place my bid. I always won the skirt. I was the eBay queen.

“Do you remember the skirt that didn’t fit?”

Gemma-Rose rushed off to try it on as soon as it arrived in the mail. When she reappeared, I said, “Why are you hanging onto the skirt?”

She didn’t reply, just let go of the fabric. The skirt slipped from her thin waist and fell in a puddle at her feet. Gemna-Rose stood, daringly undressed, and giggled, “It’s a bit big!” My daughter was small for her age.

“Gemma-Rose would be fatter if you made her eat her dinners,” someone observed. But I knew she would rather starve than let one mouthful of a meal she didn't like pass her lips. I couldn’t force her to eat. I’d tried doing that with my older kids. We’d battled. It was painful. Eventually, I learnt that I had to let go.