Raising My Own Anne with an E

I’ve never read Anne of Green Gables.  I know…it is a great literary work and filled with profound life lessons, a touch of female empowerment, and overall heart lifting writing. It is on my list of things to accomplish in this life time along with many others.  But when I am wasting time NOT working on my life goals, I spend time Netflixing. Just before the new year I binged on Anne with an E.

Something I have realized is.  I am Anne.  My daughter is Anne.  I know a bazillion Annes and we all need to quit conforming and just be Anne already!!

I have struggled so much with raising my daughter.  Not in the sense of I can’t do it, but more in the sense of my gut vs. society vs. heart vs. fact vs. head vs. faith vs. #othermoms.  I know every child is created with their own unique qualities, and believe that parents have what it takes to prepare the children God gives them for the path ahead.  But I am learning that maybe being Sweet V’s mom isn’t just about me shaping her, but about what she shapes within me.

She was a practically perfect baby during the day.  She adjusted so well to different people, she was social and laughed at people’s sarcasm and stared at people’s silliness at around 8 months old.

We never baby proofed the house because with one or two redirections from danger and off limits places, she rarely returned.  She loved music and hanging out with me in her high chair in the kitchen.

As a toddler, she learned songs, ABC’s, counting, and memorized books immediately.  She was obedient and funny and adventurous. She stayed right on the blanket at all of her big brother’s baseball games and just happily played with her toys.

Then…she became a threenager and she started to live her own life.

After three years of quietly taking it all in, Sweet V decided that she knew exactly how she was going to be a part of this big beautiful world and she hasn’t looked back.

I don’t care that she is strong willed.  I don’t even care that she doesn’t listen and obey every time I tell her something.

Guess what…she doesn’t get disciplined every time either! This momma has learned what battles I want to bow out of and what hills I will die on.

I am learning gentle parenting as I learn to be gentler with myself.

I am trying to treat my girl the way I think Jesus would treat me if He were right here on earth watching me do what V does.  Almost seven years in and V and I are building a wonderful rapport with a mutual respect for each other and a tightly knit bond. As I give compassion in the times when she probably deserves a negative consequence, I am teaching her to be compassionate and merciful to others as well.

I was sassy as a child and defiant at times. I know I gave my mom trouble and a run for her money weekly if not daily. But today I am a hardworking, capable, loving, go getter of a woman!

I have no doubt that my Sweet V-my own spunky Anne with an E- will become twice the woman I am if I learn to love her relentlessly and look for all the ways she can teach me while I teach her too.

I want her to know that she can grow up to be a woman who can think for herself, find her own path, find her God given identity and purpose, and press onward in spite of societal pressure to be a certain way as a woman.

She can be fierce and feminine and forge her own way in this life as she changes the world.

Here’s to all the parents out there raising spunky, future world changers! May we always give them limitless love while we learn to let them live limitlessly!

Keep making your house a love filled home!

High five for home.