Do It Your Own Way

This is actually a Wonder Pets song. Though not my favorite cartoon, it's cute and Zoey likes it. I think it's the high-pitch singing that takes it off the top of my list despite my high tolerance for Toddler TV.

They sing about doing things the best way for you instead of trying to imitate what someone else is doing. They sing "Do it your own way" a lot. Though high-pitched, it is catchy. And very true.

I notice that kids try to copy each other all the time. I suppose, just like they copy adults. One kid will say "Let's play dinosaurs" and every kid will tag along whether they know the name of a dinosaur or not. And as easily it will turn into something else. It is amazing watch how kids play together and can make believe anything.

I saw prime example of kids copying each other when we visited Stephen's family and Zoey's three cousins (ages 3 and 4). Stephen had taught the kids to build cubes out of foam puzzle squares. He showed them one way and they all tried it. Kiley got it right off the bat and four-year-old Connor found his own way to do it with no help. But October had a hard time. She came to me upset that she couldn't get it. I showed her a different way to put the cube together. But she said that wasn't how Kiley did it so it wasn't right. I told her that there are often many different ways to do things and sometimes you just have to do it the way it works for you. She did it then and was happy.

This was before "Wonder Pets" brought it to my attention how common that happens. Once I saw the show, that event immediately popped into my head. Not only do we try to copy other's actions, we often determine our worth by comparing ourselves to others.

As adults we to try to follow the crowd and copy others. We think ourselves failures if our house doesn't look like so and so's or we can't cook like so and so. But, the beauty is that we all have things we are good at and we each have our own style for living. God made each one of us unique and He intended it that way. If we were all the same, let's face it, we would live in a very boring world.

We need to not judge ourselves, our actions or our possessions against someone else. We only have God and ourselves to answer to, so perhaps it isn't worth it to be so hard on yourself. You just have to "Do it your own way!"

"Do not judge other, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven." Luke 6:37 (NLT)