It’s so funny to think about all the thoughts and expectations I had before ever having kids. The things I thought “I’d never do” and there were SO many things I assumed my children would “never do”. I think another term for these “things” is, unrealistic expectations. I always thought if I had a daughter I’d steer her clear of everything, princess, Barbie and all that is bright and glittery pink – ask me why and I’m sure I didn’t really have a good answer, for some reason I thought all of those things (things I actually really enjoyed as a child) would not be a good influence on “her”.

Then stage by stage I was shaken out of all of these expectations, kids tend to have a way of keeping us real like that. At some point, you learn (or I learned) that having a happy, healthy, well-rounded kiddo is the only thing that matters. And whatever puts a huge smile on her face and makes her want to try to read a book out-loud is going to be a great influence for her. If that means they wear pink all day and night or carry their Barbies with them and try to sneak them into school, then so be it.

I’m not gonna lie, I still fight some of the super girly influences – but not tooth and nail and never for some made up reason. For instance, sometimes a dress just isn’t a good idea – we do live in Canada and winters well, it’s better to just stay warm. I try to follow her lead, but hold her hand along the way. Almost all my parenting expectations about how we were going to raise her at this age, have basically been thrown out the window. She is the one telling us who she is and we are here helping her navigate and find that along the way.

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