Thursday, September 10, 2009

Strong, Brave Girl

One of my administrators at Lanier always tells baby girls that they are smart and pretty. She has a daughter that is almost a year older than Lydia, and she observed that everybody told her how pretty she was. In an effort to teach her early on that looks are not a little girl's only attribute, she introduced the "smart" comment. I tried to do this for a bit, but it felt really contrived. I tell all babies how cute and pretty they are. I do feel there is merit to this idea, though, and there are certain things I want Lydia to believe about herself from the get-go, so every night when I put Lydia down in her crib, I leave her with these words:

"Mommy loves you, and you're a brave, strong girl."

2 comments:

  1. This made me laugh-- the idea of telling a 6 mos old she's strong and brave-- but I also agree with you totally. Just hadn't thought of it. Need to think of something like that to tell Josephine.

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  2. Laurie,
    I think that is what YOUR mama said to you each night, too.
    "You're a brave, strong girl."

    Barb L.

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