Remind me to blog later about disappearing blogs!  Because I totally did this one earlier and it’s gone!

Anyways!

I have two, rather amazing daughters.  They are so smart and so kind!  They truly have the potential to be whatever they want to be in this world!  As most mothers do, I ask them from time to time, what it is they want to be when they “grow up”.  My youngest wants to be Rapunzel.  Then, after that, she wants to be a nurse.  Last, she wants to be an artist!  Busy life, that one will have!  My oldest gives me different answers depending on her mood that day.  But the most common answer I get from her is, “I want to be whatever YOU are”.  That answer used to make me cringe every time I heard it.  I also responded with, “you don’t want to be what I am baby.  You deserve better!”.

Until recently, I didn’t realize how extremely powerful my response to her was!  Essentially, what I was telling my daughter was, I am not worthy to be better than I am so please do not look up to me.  In a nutshell, yeah… that’s what that meant.  I’ve heard so many women say this to their kids… so many men… heck my mom said it to me!  It seemed like the “normal” response.  But what in the world do I think I’m doing!?!?  I am their MOTHER!  It is my job to set the example and BE the example!

Now that I’m a different person than I used to be, cause I “drank the Koo-laid”, I am really calculating my thoughts and responses in pretty much every aspect of my world and this has to be one of the big ones that I know I need to fix!  Mothers always want happy, fulfilling lives for their children because we love them, right?  So let’s define happiness… is it a job? Is it a house? Is it money?  No!  Happiness is a mind-set!  It’s an emotion that only you control!  It’s not tangible! So by us, as mothers, giving such a dark response to such a powerful statement from a child, how is that teaching them how to be happy?!?!

It starts with us.  We need to change our mindsets, chase our dreams, don’t give up, smile through it!  Be the example for your kids!  I guarantee, if you don’t allow your child to look up to you for guidance for their futures, they will look up to someone else and that is very likely to not be their best decision!

So next time your baby or babies tells you they want to be like you, or they want to do what you do, try not to cringe… try not to put yourself down in such a way that it’s apparent to your child that you don’t think you are good enough to be anyone’s role model!  Children are much more receptive than you think!  Especially girls, you know we overthink EVERYTHING!

Let’s be the change in ourselves so that we welcome and aspire for our children to follow in our footsteps!  Teach them to find their happy by finding and owning your own!

Bye for now,

RR