Be good to your daughters...

I was tagged in this post a week or so ago by Kate at The Five Fingers Blog and I'm just catching up. (Sorry Kate!).

The meme is apparently based on the lyrics of a John Mayer song called "Daughters". (I had no idea who John Mayer was and had to Google him and still had no idea who he was. Apparently he's an American musician/singer/songwriter/producer.). Anyhow, these are the lyrics from his song;

Fathers be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers be good to your daughters too…

The meme asked the following question;

If you are a daughter, what did you learn from your father or mother, either positive or negative?

In all honesty? Not a whole lot. I love my parents completely but I'm not sure they were the best parents. I don't feel that they taught me anything - but on the other hand perhaps by saying that I've just shown myself they did teach me something. I'm pretty sure I don't and won't parent my children in the same way they did me so maybe that's what I have learned.

Whilst I know they loved me and had my best interests at heart, they were never really interested in me. I don't mean I was ignored or neglected, of course I wasn't, what I mean is that I don't feel that they really made an effort with me. We didn't go many places, never really had birthday parties, rarely went on holiday. They took little or no interest in my eduction or what I did with my life. Never tried to steer, guide or advise me - not because they wanted me to find my own way, more because I think they were just lazy. I know that sounds horrific to say, but I do feel that was the truth. I don't blame them because I think it was probably how their parents were with them.

I am so unlike my parents in many ways, they have no real interests to speak of and no ambition in life whatsoever. So yes, my parents have taught me not to be like them.

If you have daughters, what lessons have you passed/will you pass onto them?

I have a daughter and I've often thought about what I hope to pass onto her, and to my son too for really, it applies to them both. I want to teach both of my children that anything is possible, the sky is the limit and they can do anything, go anywhere, be anything.

Children have this wonderful innocence about them which means they truly believe they can be spacemen, ballerinas and rock stars. I think it's only as we get older that these beliefs get knocked out of us and our confidence dwindles. Even as a teenager I still believed that I could reach for the stars and it was only as more and more people told me I couldn't, that I started to realise that you dreams were just those - big useless dreams that would never come to fruition.

I want to teach them that there is a great big world out there and it should be explored.

I'd hope that by doing this I'll open their eyes to the opportunities that are out there. It worries me that so many young girls these days aspire to be WAGs. That's all they want out of life?! I hope to teach my daugther enough for her to realise that she can and should be able to achieve a lot more than that!

Do you see something in yourself which you recognise as an inherent (unlearned) trait from your parents?

I actually don't think there is a trait I have inherited from my parents. If I had to pin one down I could say my temper, but then, don't we all have a bad temper from time to time? I think I'm actually a lot more patient than my parents.

Right, I'm done. I hope that I have answered those questions sufficiently and now I'll tag a couple more people.

Happy Elastic
Whimsical Wife
Cooking, Cakes and Children

Here are the rules...

Nick the badge above, mention the blogger who tagged you (ie me), do the post and tag some more lovely bloggers if you know any.

If you haven’t been tagged, feel free to join in anyway. Leave a comment or post a link if you've blogged about it before.

love & kisses
Mrs M x