As a parent you have those times when you wonder if you are doing a good job raising your kids. You wonder if you are making sure that you are instilling in them the self confidence that they need to make it through the hard times of being a pre-teen and a teenager nowadays. My wife and I got lucky with some pretty amazing kids, but I need to share something that my daughter did that really blew us both away.
She has been going through a pretty tough time over the past month or so dealing with the anniversary of my best friends death, who was like an uncle to her and loved her dearly, to losing her best friends to a group of other girls at school and now all of the girls were bullying her and treating her bad. So needless to say, she has had a really rough time over the past month.
In her English class they are learning how to write poetry, and she said that she told the teacher that she has been writing poetry on her own for a while and asked if she could just spend some time in class writing, so the teacher let her. When she was done with this poem, she said she brought it up to the teacher and the teacher began to tear up as she read it. My daughter is only 12 years old, so I don't know if she quite understands how much impact her poems can have on you as you read them and how powerful her message was. Here is her poem:
The wind softly blew
As I watched the sunlight slowly start to shine through.
The rain stained window, the shiny glass
Outside the wind whistled through the trees and the grass.
I got up and looked out to the clear sky
Then walked up to the mirror, and met myself eye to eye.
No matter what they say, or what they do, I'll still be me, and I'll still be true.
That beautiful girl staring back at me, feeling happy, hopeful, beautiful and free. Because that amazing, awesome girl, is me.
When she posted the poem to her Facebook page and my wife and read it, we were both so proud of her. Not only because she has such skill with writing, but that she is choosing to be strong in the face of all the ones that are trying to tear her down with their negativity. We could all learn something from this 12 year old girl. My wife and I have said it many times that she is wise beyond her years, and this is just another example of that.
Thank you for taking the time to read about my awesome daughter. If you liked her poem feel free to upvote it, she is excited to see how much all of you liked her poem. You can also resteem her poem to share its positive message with more people, you never know who is in need of hearing it.
This post is an entry in the What's the Best Thing a Child Has Taught You?? by @keciah. She is part of a Steemit community called STEEMmamas. STEEMmamas wants to be THE place for all the moms on Steemit to come and chat, seek advice, get support and encouragement, and rant about all things related to motherhood! If you are interested and want to learn more about them, you can join their discord channel at: https://discord.gg/MVNw8NH
I also teared up when I read that. What a beautiful daughter you have, inside and out. Upvoted and resteemed :)
Thank you. We are lucky to have her as part of our family. She is overwhelmed with the response to her poem.
I'm very pleased to hear that.
Your daughter is an inspiration. Her poem is beautifully written and gets the point across to those bullies. She has my upvote ad resteem.
And, thank-you for that Ceci 💜
Excelentes palabras. Saludos
Gracias por tu comentario. Espero que tengas un maravilloso día.
Heart warming to read about (and from) a young lady who is in touch with her soul. She clearly was born special out of her own accord, but you two parents have done a good job, so far! Pats on the back for mum and dad and warm support for your daughter coping so admirably with testing times.
Thank you. She really does know how to make the best out of these types of situations. She teaches my wife and I things all the time about how we should look at life.
This was lovely and thank you for sharing this with us, it fits into a current contest too about what has a child taught us! check out MI's daily list for the contest, this is a beautiful entry and the photography is great!!
Thank you. I am going to try and find it and see if I can get it entered in there. I am glad you liked it.
yes, i'm sure everyone will love it. any inspirational piece is wonderful especially when it is a female for many of the groups i'm in. for a young lady, so young to be so aware is beautiful. thanks again for sharing.
Yep, that’s definitely a sign you’re doing something right! Very beautiful poem, with great insight and confidence. I can imagine that would make almost any dad feel proud 😊
Thanks man, my wife and I are super proud of both our kids, but when they do stuff like this, we can't help but want to share it. She has a bright future ahead of her. She loves to write and has been working on writing a story for a while. She is also into painting and photography. She has a great creative mind.
What an amazing young lady! Every teacher, coach, or employer dreams of having someone like her in their class, on their team or in a position in a company. To have a natural spirit and attitude that will drive a person to persevere through adversity and hardships without losing confidence in themselves or faith and hope of a better future and better things to come is a rare commodity whose value is hard to quantify. Not everyone in the world can recognize and appreciate this kind of spirit, and those who are jealous will try to stomp it out of her. She should be aware of this fact and look for career paths and employers who will appreciate what she is bringing to the table, if she does this she is sure to have a very bright future.
Thank you for the kind words. She is has been learning American Sign Language for about two years now and has worked with the special needs students throughout all of her time in school, so she wants to be a special needs teacher when she gets older. Every day when she gets home she tells us about how much fun she has in her peer tutor class with those children.
A few weeks ago when all of this started with her friends leaving her, she got a note in her backpack telling her that she should kill herself. She had a hard night because of that, but after talking with us about it, she decided she was going to start a livestream series on Facebook every week where she would speak to people about confidence and motivation. During her first livestream she spoke about the note and how it made her feel, but that it didn't matter to her, because all that mattered was how she felt about herself and that you can't let others bring you down. She had a ton of shares and about 1000 views on it and so many people told her, adults even, that her livestream helped them and they were looking forward to the next one. She really is a special person.
"She really is a special person."
Indeed!
How sweet ❤️❤️
I have a 12 year old too, and Ive been having a “What are you doing right?” Theme going in my writing.
Good Job 👏🏾👍🏾
I can agree that she is wise beyond her years! What a beautiful girl and a beautiful poem :) I also have a 12-year old daughter who has dealt with loss and bullying. I will definitely be showing this to her! I've written poetry all of my life (I'm 35 now) and I've never had the guts to share much of it. Tell her she is very strong and courageous for opening up and sharing her poetry. You and your wife obviously have many good reasons to be proud! :)
Thank you for your kind words. I am sorry your daughter has had to go through this as well. I think it may be something about this age. Hopefully her reading it gives her some courage to face her obstacles. You should definitely share your stuff, especially here on Steemity. The writing community here is amazing and is very supportive and will only make you a better writer. I wish you and your daughter the best.
I finally let her read it and she teared up and said “Awww!” I could tell she identified with it :) Also, I definitely need to get more involved in the writing community on here. It might reawaken what little bit of creativity I still have left in me. Thanks!!
Wow, this is so beautiful. resteemed
I am also dealing with some teenagers who are learning to find their footing in life especially in self discovery. I happen to be their tutor for academic subjects but sometimes they confide in me. This has inspired me to start my A Tutor's Tale which my first post was on Acceptance and Rejection and I am working on the second one on beauty. I'm so glad I read your daughter's poem!
Blessings to your family and all the best in the contest! :)
Thank you so much. Teenagers are a rough age because they are trying to figure out who they are instead of who we want them to be. We actually let our son drive for the first time on his own today. It was pretty scary, but we have to let it happen some time. I am glad that you enjoyed the poem.
Our next generation is such a blessing. Your daughter and her engagement to share this amazing message helps my hope to soar 💜🙏
Thank you. She sure does have such a sweet spirit about her. She is so happy that so many people like her poem.
You know you're doing something right as a parent when your kid is that strong and clear. Brava to her for being true to herself, and bravo to you for sharing this. Fantastic post!
Thank you for your words. She really is an inspiration to us. We are so happy with the people that our kids are growing up to be and the examples that they are setting.
I want to say good job to her.
For choosing to pick yourself up off of the ground and press forward. To look beyond the sharp tongues of other girls and to be stronger for it. You are choosing to be better than them by not stopping to their level, making yourself stronger by not letting their hateful words bring you down but using them to press forward harder. The fact that you are using these experiences to recognize your beauty rather than flaws is so inspiring. And you are gorgeous. Truly a beautiful young woman.
You spoke such wise words, and i want to take this chance yo encourage you to keep going. To always remember you're strong, beautiful, and quite brave for taking this stance. You seem to have a better head on your shoulders than a majority of the people my age. I admire you for these things, and hope you never lose sight of your good qualities no matter how people try to pick apart your bad ones.
She loves reading the comments from everyone. I will make sure that she sees this when she gets home from school today. Thank you for your nice words and support to her.
Great poem... and a great girl you've got there!
You must have done a good job as parents!
Thank you. It is always nice to find out that our work as parents is paying off. All of this positive reinforcement she has been receiving from her poem has been very inspiring for her to push her to write more.
Her poem is so beautifully written. Indeed she has a beautiful soul. I hope she will soon be alright soon, and with both of guidance, she will turn out strong and amazing. My best regard to you and your wife and family.
#steemmamas.
Going to resteem this for sure.