My daughter’s light shines unusually bright.
At five years old she has clear pink cheeks and a babyish run. Her favourite things are unicorns and those daisy wafers you decorate cakes with. She sees the world through those big sweet eyes, and everything is new and fresh and full of hope. To me, she is perfect.
When we get dressed up, she twirls in the mirror and she feels beautiful. Her little reflection is happy and it’s that simple. But soon, as she grows up she will also grow more critical of herself, of the shape of her chin, of her changing figure, of her hair style. She will look in the mirror, and she will begin to doubt herself. She will enter the phase of her world where we are expected to tweeze and pluck and dye and straighten and change, and it’s never enough. And it won’t just be physical. She will want to act a certain way, like her friends, like the girls on TV, like her cousins. Trying to fit in, trying on other identities to find out who she really wants to be.
My job is to teach her to be brave….to see herself as I do. To be her amazing self, always, no matter what life throws her way and for her to know that she is loved. So much.
She sleeps with her tangle of hair, one leg out of the duvet, her little hands clasped together. I want to tell her that she is all she ever needs to be. She is funny and smart and kind. She is honest and caring and curious. I want her to know that I wish I were more like her. I want to tell her she makes me a better person just by being her mum.
My daughter is at the start of a long journey through the ups and downs of life. I wish her the happiest of highs, but I know there will be times where she may feel left out, not good enough, different, insecure and all the things I remember feeling as I grew up.
It’s a journey about self-confidence and learning about who you are, and finding your own place in the universe. I can only guide her.
She looks at me like I hang the stars – some day she will realise she was the brightest one of all.
Today it’s about reminding her that to us; she is amazing and beautiful, but most of all, brave.
