Cookie-Cutter Daughter

So there's this school of thought on parenting that parents shouldn't criticize their children.
It runs on pure encouragement and love.

Sometimes I wonder what I would be like today
If you had raised me with this philosophy.

If you had let me smash that chocolate cupcake all over that pink high chair on my second birthday;
Instead of telling me "no".

If you had taught me to color outside the lines in my princess coloring book when I was five;
Instead of trying to make me keep it neat.

I you had let me wear the sweatshirts and jeans I liked when I was six;
Instead of the itchy tights and frilly dresses that would become my uniform.

If you had let me track that dirt through the house after the mud fight with my sister when I was seven;
Instead of being angry about the muddy footprints on the linoleum.

If you had let me wear my hair in the messy ponytails I loved when I was eight;
Instead of the bobby pins and bows that dug into my head,
but I wore anyway because you said they made me pretty.

If you had let me laugh too loudly at the stupid cartoons when I was nine;
Instead of telling me to use my inside voice.

If you had bought me the remote controlled car I asked for on my tenth birthday;
Instead of the Barbie dollhouse that you said I would like better.

If you had hugged me and told me how mean boys could be when I was twelve and heartbroken;
Instead of acting like it didn't matter.

I don't know who I would be.
But I think I would be more like myself and less like your expectations.