It takes a Village!

Thank you for all of the sweet comments and support from Paige's post about being adopted and dealing with racism, etc... She was happy that she could help and so am I!

Ya know, several of you asked what we did to raise a confident little girl and it really got me thinking. I don't think we have done anything in particular, but some things that I think have helped Paige's self confidence is we tell her ALL of the time that she is all that AND a bag of chips. We are her biggest fans and she knows that we have her back 110%. Granted, when she is not using nice manners or has a sour attitude, you better believe we settle that quickly. Unfortunately, with the tween years on us, we are having "heart to hearts" more often than not. (Sorry Paigee, but we are getting there, huh? :)

We try to keep things light and don't focus on a lot of negativity. She has some "mean girl" issues in her fifth grade class and I just don't harp on it. She'll tell me how so and so picked on this one or that one and I just listen, ask her how it makes her feel and what she can do to help. We have LOTS of dialogue...I am sure she would say almost to the point of nauseum :)

We also make sure that she is SURROUNDED by positive, loving, confident people. It really does take a village to raise healthy, happy, poised, confident young people. I believe so deeply that we should speak positively about all people in front of young ones. They are SPONGES and soak it all in. We are their role models right now and we can make em' or break em'. In our household, we choose to make em' :)

Racism, bullying, mean spiritedness is going to exist and unfortunately I think we will all be touched by it in one way or the other. It is how we react to it all that makes all the difference.

Thank you for allowing us to share a bit of our thoughts with you!

Have a GREAT weekend! Ours is going to be a wet and rainy one! I'm going to catch up on some good reading and movie time :)