Tonight, Louisa was telling me about some girls on her basketball team. Apparently she is one of the very few who does not wear makeup. She said that the way that most of them wear eye shadow is not, in her opinion, very flattering because it’s all smudged around their eyes. (She has many opinions, that girlie!)

I told her that, when she is 13, she will be allowed to start wearing make-up, if she wants to.

Mikey immediately chimed in with, “You don’t need to wear make up. You are too pretty for make up.” (He followed this up with, “Like your mom. She doesn’t need makeup either.” Love really is blind, I guess)

Sophia looked up and said, “You can’t wear make up! If you wear make up, boys will notice you and we don’t want boys noticing you.”

Poor Louisa had not said she wanted to wear makeup! She replied, “I don’t want to wear makeup! I’m just talking about girls on my team!”

Soph then said, “If you wear make up, you can’t leave the house. We don’t want boys getting any ideas.”

I tried again with, “Both of your sisters are allowed to wear make up, but neither wants to. If you want to wear makeup when you are 13, you will be allowed.” (She just turned 12 in July.)

She looked at me and laughed and said, “That’s fine. I really don’t want to wear any.”

Poor thing has one mom but two additional bosses. God bless her, I am trying my best to be the strongest voice of reason. As someone who grew up with 7 older siblings (5 of whom are sisters) I know the feeling of having too many moms.

There are many times when Mia is doing something that might not be ideal that both of her sisters will chime in with, “Mia, stop!” or “Mia, don’t do that.”

I have lost count of how many times I have said, “One mom, girls.”

I am so glad that my girls have such strong beliefs. And I am proud of Soph for being so protective of both of her sisters. Hopefully Louisa will not end up locked in the house when she does start dating. It won’t be me who does it, either!