3 Things I Want My Daughters To Know

 MamaBlogga is having a writing contest with the theme “3 Things I Want My Kids To…” I have actually been thinking a lot about what I want to write. I toyed with the idea of a humorous post, but in the end this is what I came up with.

Three Things I Want My Daughters To Know

1. They are Beautiful: Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want girls who are vain and obsessed with their looks. I have known women who were imprisoned by their parents by being told they were pretty so much that they feel like they have nothing else to offer. We all know as we grow older that beauty fades and then what are you left with? What I am talking about is combating the images that bombard young girls today… waif-thin, airbrushed, starlets with fake hair, nails, lashes and boobs. I have difficulty coping with these images, and I am not thirteen and awkwardly hitting puberty (thank God). I try to tell my girls that they are beautiful because they are a creation of God and that we are striving for beauty on the inside. It’s hard to internalize when everything around them is telling them the opposite.

2. They are talented: I am always appalled when watching the parents of the kids who audition for American Idol with absolutely zero singing talent. In their interviews, they go on-and-on about how talented their kids are and how the judges have really missed the boat not realizing how fabulous their kid is. I don’t doubt that their kids are talented… just not at singing. I know my kids won’t be good at everything, but they will be good at something. I think our job is to find that something that they are passionate about, and talented at, and encourage them to be the best they can be. They might not be a prima ballerina or sing at the Metropolitan Opera, but they will always know their mom and dad are proud of them.

3. They are Loved: I really don’t think there is a day that goes by around here when we don’t tell our daughters this. I have met many women in my life who weren’t given this validation growing up and man, did they go looking for it in all the wrong places. There are all sorts of men in this world who will offer a cheap and counterfit version of the love we all long for. I hope that when all is said and done in my job as a mom, this is what my daughters will most know to be true: not only that they are loved and cherished by their parents, but that God does it even better than we do.

You still have one more day to join in over at MamaBlogga. I hope you do, it is a great thing to think about.