This morning Brynna came stomping into my bathroom in her uniform pants, upset that I had made her change out of her skort because it was dirty. (A little background, Brynna hates wearing the uniform pants, she only likes the skorts. But she had already worn her skorts for the week and pants were the only clean options left.) She scowled at me and said “You know what hate about my school….”
I cut her off there. Maybe it was rude, but I was in no mood for ungrateful tantrums. I said “Brynna, I am not really interested in listening to a tirade of what you hate.
Do you want to know that there are still little girls in this world who don’t even get to go to school, because their society says they are not worth it.
There are little girls who will never learn how to read because there are people that see no value in educating a girl.
There are little girls who have no say in what they do, who they marry, or what they become.
YOU are a girl born in America. YOU are a girl who is not told if she gets to learn, but you are a girl who gets to decide if you will choose to learn. YOU get to choose to be whatever you can dream or imagine and you live in a place where if you work hard enough you can make that happen. YOU get to choose the man who you will marry someday. YOU get to choose what you will do with your life. YOU live in a time in history and in a society where your thoughts as a girl are valued and matter.
If you want to waste your time pouting and crying about the fact that you didn’t get to choose your skirt today then shame on you for having such an ungrateful attitude. YOU have every choice that really matters in life, Brynna. Be grateful and quit whining.”
Maybe I was a bit heavy on her, but dang it I won't have my kids growing up like so many spoiled brats out there who's parents soothe and appease their every whim and demand in life if they cry loud enough or scowl long enough. I love my kids with all my heart and the last thing I want them suffering from in life is an ungrateful heart. I hope my kids know that I expect them to do and be their best not because I am a battle axe, stick-in-the-mud, but because I love them and want to help them be the people they were sent to this earth to be.
I hope they always know that I think that they are smart, kind, talented and beautiful. I hope they know that I am always here to assist them in all that they do. I hope that when they doubt themselves they will know they were raised to push past that doubt. I hope they will know that they are Young's and because of that they can do hard things and need to strive to have grateful hearts.
I hope in the long run a little sternness will be interpreted for what it really is...a heavy dose of love.