Today is the first day of school here in town. My oldest is now a 1st grader while my youngest is now in Kindergarten. It’s unbelievable how fast time flies. I have to be honest, my husband and I are raising some AWESOME kids. I don’t say that to be arrogant. I know they are not perfect but that is how we see them.  I want everyone who comes in contact with them to see them the same way we do. But most importantly I want them to feel that way about themselves. I want them to know they are amazing and that their potential for greatness is limitless as long they always try their best and put their faith in God.

If you really want to get me in “Mama Bear” mode then put a limit on them. Express doubt in their capabilities. Tell them that something is “too difficult”. That is just not acceptable to me. How can you know what is too difficult for someone else? Even if you think it, don’t say it to them. If you say it to them then that is what they will believe.  Children believe what you tell them.

I recently saw this shirt in the girl’s department at Target when I was with my daughter. I was offended as a woman, I was offended as a parent, and as a former kid.  I would never buy this for my daughter, nieces or anyone for that matter. The word “future” on this shirt expresses a limit. What this shirt is really saying is “I am NOT capable of being a role model at my current age”.

I should write to C9 Champion and ask at what point in the future can one become a role model and see what they tell me. My daughter is a role model NOW. Her spirit, her tenacity, her strength are all things I admire and strive to attain. She is a role model to younger children as well as those her age. When she was 3 years old she broke her leg during gymnastics class and was in a full cast for a month. The moment her cast came off she wanted to go back, but I kept her out of gymnastics for about 5 months to make sure all was well. The day she went back she was jumping on the same trampoline she got hurt on.  I admired that. Not everyone would be able to do that.

My son is a role model too. I was focusing on my daughter because often I have noticed that messages on shirts differ between the boy’s departments and the girl’s but that is a totally different post. Okay, back to my son. He is awesome. He is driven, he is kind, he is a role model.

Early on I taught my children the importance of giving themselves affirmations. This is very important to me. I make them come up with their own and so what they may say differs daily.  Some of the constant ones are “I am smart”, “I am a good listener”, “I am a good friend”, “I am a good gymnast”, “I am a good basketball player”, etc.  I have them do this because they need to be able to say good things about themselves. It is important for them to believe in themselves. They need to know they are capable of greatness. My children and your children have the capability of being great at whatever they strive for. You and I have the capability of being great at whatever we strive for. However, with this is important to know that you must always put in a full effort.

Earlier this year the kids and I came up with the idea of making daily videos of them saying “I am capable of greatness”. They love it. My son really gets into it sometimes as you will see…lol. I have even caught them putting the phone in selfie mode and recording themselves saying it. I put together a compilation of some of them. During the summer we got a bit relaxed but picked it up again this morning to start off the new school year. Enjoy!

To conclude this post I simply want to say. Children are amazing and should feel that way about themselves. They are not our future but our NOW!!

~Tricia