Shaping her passions

The other day I saw these two quotes “The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice” and this “your children become who you are, so be who you want them to be.”  As a parent, I immediately started to evaluate the words I use and the actions that I take.  I thought to myself, am I using my words to ensure that Ava grows up to be confident, brave and not afraid to be a strong leader?  Do I show her that it is okay to be unique?  That making mistakes is okay? That we don’t have to be perfect all of the time?  That it is our actions not our belongings (or our looks) that define us?

This morning Ava came in to school with me and while waiting for her day to start she drew a picture.  In the picture she drew a dark piece of coral and then she added three colorful fish and then she said “This is a fish family that is eating the coral” and I was pretty impressed.  Then I took her over to her to her classroom and her teacher, Ms. Judith, said that the class has been studying about sea life. During their circle time discussions the topic about sharks has come up several times and Judith said that all of the children have expressed a real fear of sharks and that they would share many of the common misconceptions that people, especially four year olds have, about the species.  Judith then went on to tell me that each time this topic comes up, Ava boldly tells her friends what she knows about sharks, and that there are many different types of sharks and that they are an important part of the marine ecosystem, not something to be feared or hated.  Apparently, each time this topic comes up Ava stands proudly to remind her friends of this, even mentioning that her mommy and daddy often swim with the sharks.  Ava has even seen her daddy rescue a shark (a long story for another time).

Right in that moment I realized that the actions we take as parents are important and I reveled in a moment of pride for my daughter (the budding ecologist?).  I was then overcome with a sense of relief.  A relief knowing that Ava has the confidence to share her passions. That she knows that it is okay to disagree wither her friends and not compromise her beliefs.  That being smart and loving science is cool. That it is important to stand up for those that don’t have a voice to speak for themselves.  

I guess we aren’t doing so badly after all.