I have three children, two sons and a daughter. My daughter is the middle child and has always been very creative. This is a good thing and will most likely be an asset for her as an adult; however as a child it means that she demands more attention and time.

Not only does she make unique requests, but she also wants to be involved in fulfilling them. Do you have one child that challenges you more than your other children? I do.

When she was ten years old we went to see a production of the Christmas Carol at one of the metropolitan theaters. The production was excellent; it was a great family outing. After we saw the production she wanted to have a copy of the book. We bought this for her as a stocking stuffer for Christmas that year. In the copy of the book the illustration of the ghost from things yet to come was drawn in the classic grim reaper costume. She decided as soon as she saw the illustration that this is what she wanted to be for Halloween the next year. I did not look for a grim reaper costume because my thought was that she would change her mind several times in the ten months before Halloween came around. The month before Halloween she was still insistent that she wanted a grim reaper costume. My thought was to use black material that we could drape and pin around her, however she wanted the hood and she wanted a way to wear it so she could see, but no one could see her face.

There were grim reaper costumes available for adults so I bought her one and we shortened it so that she could walk without having to hold it up. There was a large hood on the costume, but you could still see her face. I looked for black sheer fabric that we could sew into the hood, but all the pieces I found were either so sheer that you could still see her face or they were too opaque to see through. I bought the sheer fabric as well as black face paint. I sewed the fabric into the hood several inches back from the edge and then we painted her face black. This worked great because when you looked at her you had no idea of who it was. We also painted her hands white so they had a ghostly appearance. She was going to a party at a neighbor’s house. I sewed Velcro around the sheer material so that she would be able to pull it away from her face in order to eat and drink. Throughout all of the construction of the costume she was in the room with me making sure that it was exactly how she wanted it. She wants to learn to sew so that she will be able to make her own costumes in the future. I am sure they will turn out great because she is a perfectionist.