© 2024 Interlochen
CLASSICAL IPR | 88.7 FM Interlochen | 94.7 FM Traverse City | 88.5 FM Mackinaw City IPR NEWS | 91.5 FM Traverse City | 90.1 FM Harbor Springs/Petoskey | 89.7 FM Manistee/Ludington
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Autonomy Defined

I am spending the afternoon with a five-year-old.  Since my granddaughters are teen-agers, I have to borrow other people’s little children in order to play dolls, read fairy tales, and color in coloring books.  Sylvie is a former neighbor and now that her family has moved across town, I drive to pick her up.  We arrange her child seat in the back and buckle her in.

At my house, we revisit the Cabbage Patch dolls.  “How old are Lisa and Leslie?” Sylvie asks.  I think back to when my daughter received them and calculate about 30 years.  “They don’t look that old,” Sylvie remarks.  No, they still look like babies—a little the worse for wear but not adults.  Dolls do not have to grow up, to define themselves in a world of huge, autonomous beings.

Sylvie is doing that, however.  When I ask if she’s going to color the stars yellow, she says, “No, it’s too much work.”  I grudgingly respect her independence.  When we leave my house, she asks, “Can I open the door?”  She means the car.  It hadn’t occurred to me that this was important to her.  Autonomy comes in many steps, most of which I’ve forgotten.

I appreciate the reminder.