Quenten freakin' Tarantino

I'm an avid rule follower. Always have been, always will be. I won't budge at a red light, even if it's the middle of the night and the damn thing doesn't have a sensor, and I  just sit there...for minutes...waiting...with nobody around. I've always had success with diets, because I don't cheat. The rules have always been good to me, because I'm good to the rules.

Not all parents follow the rules.  I've ran into this problem a few times in the last 7 years. Like when the kids were told to make a treasure chest for kindergarten, and I watched Taylor proudly glue crap to a shoe box for hours. Her pride was short lived when we arrived for school the next day and some fellow kindergarteners had magically learned to work a sewing machine over night, and brought in their felt covered boxes with trim and embellishments.

Or the time when our preschool teacher told the parents to bring in a toy under $7 for "Santa" to hand out during his visit. Taylor watched in horror as her friends opened up their SO NOT $7 doll houses, while she unwrapped a bath toy that I had felt guilty about spending $8.50 on.

So when Taylor brought home instructions for a PTA contest, I read them through thoroughly. She was to make a movie. And I made note of what I assumed was the most important rule: the child must write, produce, and handle the camera ON THEIR OWN for the making of the film. Well if you have a 7 year old, you can imagine how difficult it is to stand back and let them make something without interfering when you know you could do it better, faster, easier- but NO! These are the rules and the rules are sacred! So I abided. Taylor made her movie all on her own. I sat along side her and coached her when needed, but after a few hours on a Saturday it took every ounce of restraint I had not to scream, "Give me the camera! I'll just do it!" No, no! We suffered persevered. And the result is something that I love. Everything about her movie sort of embodies Taylor's imagination and makes me smile.

Her little movie won at her school (hooray), and then we were told we were in "the finals."

I'm not going to lie. I got excited. "The finals" meant her movie had beat out other movies from other elementary schools in Santa Clarita. She ended up getting 3rd place for her division this evening, which was very exciting! Third place is awesome and she was so thrilled to get a trophy! We are so proud of her. 

At the awards ceremony, we watched the first place winner's movie. And I'm not going to say Taylor was robbed, but she was robbed.

There was NO WAY a kid could have made the winning movie on his own! It was complete with a dream sequence, a Mentos rocket, a soundtrack no kid that age would have come up with, and his dad co-starred in what was obviously a joint effort. I hid my annoyance rather well, I have to say. But inside, I was irked.  Of course I had to let it go. Little Quintin Tarintino (and his dad) probably worked just as hard as Taylor did. He (his dad) deserves to win. And I'm sure we'll get to see another awesome film from him (and his dad) next year if we go to the ceremony again.

In the mean time, Taylor is giddy with excitement about her trophy and it's hard to stay annoyed at the rule breakers of the world when you have a very happy little girl.