Sunday, December 27, 2009

Things I Want My Daughter To Know

Secret SocietyImage by Gabriela Camerotti via Flickr


The idea of this post comes from a comment my friend Hevel left on my previous post and I paraphrased the title of a novel by Elisabeth Noble...

Hevel said that the values, norms and traditions that I would want to teach Maya are my values and are different from the ones in the society in which I live.

Actually, the values that I want to teach my daughter are not different from the universal ones and I do hope that they all the values of the society in which I live today. Otherwise there is really no point......
I want to teach her to be, above all, a good human being. Not to harm other beings (human or not), to respect the uniqueness of each of us. I want to teach her that being different should be a good thing, that this fantastic world is like a mosaic of differentness and this is what makes us special. I want to teach her to be tolerant and to help others, to have an open heart and to love with all her being...

But I also want her to learn that we are allowed to make mistakes in life, but everything comes with a price...

I want to teach my daughter to be, above all, proud of who she is. It is not a shame to be different and when I say different, I mean not only different because you believe in one God or another, but different when you have another skin color, different because you were born physically different. There are so many shades of different in this world that, in the end, being different is a good thing. Because it teaches you a lot not about yourself, but about others. Because, in the end, we are different only in the eyes of the ones that perceive us that way.

My daugher is a great person. She is happy by nature, always with a smile on her face. And I will protect her innocence and well being with the price of my soul. I would go to Hell and back just to know she is safe. Safe from narrow minded people, ignorants and extremists.
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5 comments:

Elizabeth Mahlou said...

I understand what you are saying. Watching our children become kind, moral, good adults is the most rewarding part of parenthood. Someone once told me that being a grandparent was better than being a parent because you got to go home. I disagree. The best part of being a grandparent is watching your own child be a good parent.

Angelj052@gmail.com said...

This is so what I wanted for my kids, but also to be strong in their choices. @Elizabeth Mahlou Someone once told me that being a grandparent was better than being a parent because you got to go home. I disagree. The best part of being a grandparent is watching your own child be a good parent.

I sooooooo agree and my daughter has the values I taught her, although she has entered the world but as he Bible said she came back to the way she was taught.

~ Mama said...

what a sweet post and a great idea. my dad did this for me in college, he wrote it out and framed it and I still love looking at it:)

Alone in Holy Land said...

Thnak you so veru much for sharing with me your thoughts!
And Mama, I think it is a fantastic idea and this is what I am going to do,too!

Unknown said...

I wanted the same things for my daughters too. So I wrote a children's book that encouraged kindness, teamwork, valuing others (even though they're different) and environmental awareness. Here's the link to my book: http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/SavingSunnyStream.html. I hope it becomes a tool for other parents striving to teach their kids the same valuable lessons that you are.