Parenting my Independent Spirit

Many of you who actually know me and my family have seen first hand how completely different my children are from each other.  My oldest, Lily Claire is gentle, sensitive, kind, artistic...  My youngest, Ella is a bit more complicated, so far.  She's the child that is running left when everyone else is going right.  The one that carries the piano bench over to the hall closet and climbs up on it to reach the shelf with the nail polish so she can paint her "pretties".  The one who MUST pick out her own clothes and refuses to wear pants!  Anyhere, no pants!!!  Don't get me wrong, I adore her, but she is a challenge!  Every day I find myself having to "dig deep" to parent her effectively.  It got me thinking about how many people have had to do the same thing with their children and the challenges that they face daily.  I don't know about you, but it makes me smile when I read about a child who has similar personality traits to my children.  So for those of you out there in the same boat as me, you know, the one where your child is screaming on the floor at Target and throwing her shoes off because you won't buy the 8 boxes of Tazo Tea that she so carefully placed in the basket herself.  You are not alone!  And for those of you out there with children who have so many more challenges than I face, the ones with Neurology appointments, GI appointments, Occupational Therapy appointments, and so many more things on you plate, you are not alone either!  We are all parenting our Independent Spirits, the best way we can.