Growing Girls

Here is my girls.  Oh I love them to pieces. 

True, they do make me want to pull my hair out sometimes

but I wouldn't trade it for the world.  Plus I have plenty of hair! 

Nate is adjusting to having 3 girls.  They are definitely making his hair turn gray

with all the things girls do to their daddies.  

Lil Miss knows how to get her way from her daddy.  She gives

him that look and you can't do anything but smile.

It is hard in this day and age to keep your girls "young".  They want to

grow up so fast.  Rosie at 7 years old seems like she is going on 17. 

All I want to do is keep them in a bubble and protect them from

all the nastiness out there in the world... 

The Peer Pressures

The Bullies

The Unkindness in People's Hearts

The Scariness of it ALL

It is almost to hard to compete against as a parent. 

My kids are pretty sheltered from outside influences of media. 

We limit their TV watching to PBS, Disney Channel (by DVR) or netflix movies. 

So they don't really watch commercials to see the latest and greatest toys.

They have no clue what movies are coming out or what toy is the hottest item 

unless their friends all have them.  But hard as I try, the girls still want

to be just like their friends.  I remember that feeling.  I wasn't a little girl who

was very sure of herself.  I didn't love myself. 

I wanted to be someone different. 

So, when my daughter comes home saying she hates her hair,

or wishes she wasn't so tall, or wants to be anybody but her self, my heart aches.

I want her to love herself and be confident in who SHE is. 

Rosie is a people pleaser thru and thru.  She will do anything to make someone else

like her.  (I know a little bit about how that is)  She would come home from school and tell me she needed to bring ALL her silly bands to school the next day because so and so said she would be her friend if she gave them to her.  Oh, Rosie, you don't have to buy friendship. 

You just have to be you.

I am writing this blog to remind myself that everyday

I need to tell her that God made her perfect just the way she is.

She is unique and made for great things.

And I want you to tell your children that.  Don't let them forget that they are

loved just the way they are.   I am trying to be Rosie's (and all my girls)

biggest cheerleader.  This also comes with the knowledge that you need

to be their biggest supporter in whatever they want to do

and try not to push them into what you "want" them to do.  I catch myself saying

"oh you don't want to really do that do you?" when they pick an activity

I question, like cheerleading.  (I am not a girly girl who was full of spirit and energy like Rosie but she makes a good cheerleader)

I want to mold them in a good way not mold them into what I want

them to be, but what they are meant to be. 

I have alot of work to do on becoming the mom I want to be

to my little girls, but I really am trying to let them be their genuine selves. 

I need to work on this myself.  Someday I hope they see what I see and

aren't afraid to be who they are.  I need to look in the mirror somedays and

remind myself that I am my own person and not the person down the street.

With all my faults and all my flaws (so few!) I am me.

With school coming so soon I am trying to instill this teaching in the girls

everyday so they can go to school confident.  I am sure we will have days where they

come home from school and fling their backpack on the floor wallowing in self pity saying

"I wish __________"

But I will try to remind them over and over that God made them they way they are.

PERFECT

Tell your children today

You are unique.  When God made you he broke the mold.  You won't find two people in the world that have the same footprint, fingerprint or voice. Why did God make you different than everyone else in the world?  Because you are special and he wants you to know how much you are loved. You are one of a kind.