Perfect Time Number 3 is on Grocery Store Runs

Can I just tell you how much I loved going to the grocery store with my momma.  This is the time when my momma empowered me.  She made me feel like the smartest girl alive.  I was her go to gal.  I helped her with the difficult task of creating a meal for our family.  I helped her with pinching the pennies that my daddy doiled out not so freely, and we together as a team would create a meal.

So, not only did we go to the grocery store together, but we problem solved together, we were creative together and ultimately we would work together to prepare a meal.  As a young girl I learned valuable life skills from my momma through these times together.  She jokingly said after I was married, that I must have learned from watching, because I did more talking than cooking.  But, you can ask my husband, I know my way around the kitchen now.  So, even if your daughter only learns from watching, she’s learning.

During my teen years I vividly remember the times I desperately wanted a new shirt, a new jacket, a new anything for that matter and my dad having to tell me no. I know now after becoming a parent that it was difficult for him to do so and I also know after becoming an adult that it was not something that he could help.

No matter if he could provide everything I wanted, he always provided everything I needed and though at the time I may not have seemed grateful. Now, looking back on those days I truly am. How do you teach your daughter to be grateful, in a world where she feels pressure to keep up with the latest trends, fashions and not stand out too much from her peers?

First, it is important that she understand that it is okay not to fit in, and it is more than okay to stand out, but in a good way. Standing out and standing up for her values and beliefs is something that is far better than staying “in style”.

Once you help your daughter to establish her own identity by discussing the fact that it is okay to be different then she will soon begin to take on her own values and beliefs not just because you told her to believe that way or she has grown up around people who share specific values and beliefs, but because she believes and values those things as well. They have become a part of who she is. Take it from someone who now understands as an adult why I have certain values and beliefs and who cherishes those who taught me those things.

So, maybe my daddy couldn’t give me every new fashion trend that hit the market, but he did give me something bigger, something better and far more valuable. He gave me a strong set of morals, values and beliefs that have carried me much farther than any fad every could.