Share

Today I had the pleasure of meeting a very opinionated father at the playground. He watched as my daughter avoided other children, hid behind me, and yelled if someone tried to play with her. He politely but assertively told me that I should just "throw her to the wolves.” "She’d be okay," he insisted. He suggested that "throwing her to the wolves" might just force her to be more accepting of other kids and make her become more social.

I politely listened, and then I responded:
Our entire lives, starting at birth, people will tell us how we need to be more of this or less of that. They'll tell us how being more like how they’d like us to be will make us “better” and “more right”. If we have only one person in our life who thinks we are perfect exactly the way we are, who supports our growth in whatever manner WE choose to grow; and who truly loves us without conditions—we are blessed, deeply blessed.

I’ve chosen to be that person for my daughter. I've chosen to honor who she is, to let her know without a doubt that I love her no matter what. I've chosen to let her know that she is okay, and more than okay—she is perfect and amazing just the way she is. I've chosen to be her safe place in this universe to explore, grow and experiment with who SHE wants to be. I've chosen to never insist that she be or act a certain way in order to be more accepted by me.

I have chosen to be her blessing—and I am at perfect peace with that.