“It’s A Girl!”
Those three words changed my whole world. I was terrified to be honest. After not having a great mother/daughter relationship, I was afraid I couldn’t do it. But I buckled down in the great ride of “female”, and made the changes that I needed to. I heard the same ol’, same ol’ things when people found out. Like, “better start saving money”, “girls are harder when they get older”, “you’ll keep hair products in business”. But here a few (more important) things that no one told me…
• You would want her to be everything you aren’t. It’s so much easier to see a world of possibility when you are looking at someone else. You see the potential in her to make something of herself, anything her mind can dream up. You may have trouble seeing your worth, but you’ll never have a hard time seeing hers. You’ll hope that she doesn’t put up with all the things you have, but instead never settle on any relationship, job, or anything!
• You would bite your tongue with every ugly, self-image word that creeps out. Because in your hearts of hearts, you know you would cringe to hear your daughter ever mutter a word like that about herself. The most beautiful human(s) in your eyes, looks at you as the most beautiful in theirs.
• You will bump heads! Because here is the truth, she’ll one day go from a bow wearing, “look at me spin” girl; to a hormonal woman, hmmm like yourself! But then you’ll remember how vulnerable, crazy, and afraid you felt with all the changes and you’ll buy her chocolate. And you will hug and embrace this new chapter together, with lots of chocolate.
• You’ll want other strong women around to help raise this new strong female generation. I thank God for the village we have surrounding us. My daughters know who they can turn to for advise or just to escape mom for a bit. Because, let’s be real, did you listen to everything from mom?! You’ll want her to be inspired by other boss ladies, strong mothers, and lifting each other up women.
• Yes you may have a shopping, dressing up, bow and jewelry wearing, loves to dance, princess. Or you may have a jean and sneaker wearing, who wants to box and play soccer princess. I promise both are fine. Let her embrace herself and don’t put so much pressure on her to conform to what the world expects of her. Allow her a safe environment to flourish in.
I still have a lot more to this journey to learn from. My girls are still growing.
Please comment with what you learned, that no one else told you to expect about raising girls.
