The Tour Continues & Thoughts on Raising Girls

Today’s blogger is Casey from Second Grade Math Maniac. Check out her website for a chance to win a copy of my book!

This afternoon I will be celebrating the release of The Potato Chip Champ with fans here in Michigan at my Official Book Release Party.

I am really looking forward to the event.

I wanted to take a few moments to share my thoughts on raising two little girls. I think about the fact that I am their number one role model right now all the time. It scares me but then again it makes me so happy that it’s me and not someone else. A friend of mine runs an organization called Kids Empowered. She sends out a newsletter and this week there was a startling statistic, that 78% of girls are unhappy with their bodies.

Kimber continued with…

We need to fill the lives of our girls (and boys) with more meaning and purpose so how they look and what material things they have does not dictate how they feel about who they are. Cameron Russell, the catwalk superstar participated in the TEDx MidAtlantic session which was titled ‘Be Fearless’. For Russell, being fearless meant being honest. This is a great way to talk to our girls about image, privilege, being insecure but more importantly living a life with acceptance of yourself and others, loving yourself and others, and doing good in the world.” Check out the video here.

How we talk about ourselves and view our bodies is portrayed to our children. If we value materials and posessions over what’s really important, our children see this. I want to continue doing good things in the world, loving myself authentically and acknowledging my feelings for my family out loud. I want my girls to witness their mama loving life, even with its ups and downs!

I had lunch with a friend yesterday and we talked about “Mom Guilt” It looks different for everyone. Our conversation kept circling back to the fact that we know we don’t know all the answers when it comes to parenting. But we try our best and that matters a lot.

I love, love, LOVE this post by Kelle Hampton. She hits home when she declares the following when in regards to parenting…

A: Get passionate about something important. Bring your passion to the table. Do something about it. Talk about it. B: Accept that you don’t know jack about a lot of stuff. The minute you admit that, you’ll start to know jack.

I like her thoughts on raising her girls. Her words inspire me.