Can We Please Celebrate, Admire, and Respect Our Differences?!

I am far from a parenting expert… about as far as it can get.  Just because you pop out some kids doesn’t make you an expert.  I’m not sure why I feel the need to bring that up, but anyhow…  we had a family meeting yesterday.  Yes, we actually do that from time to time.  The topic of discussion was the differences among all the personalities in our family.  There was finger pointing, some name calling (not in a nasty way), and we had to talk it out. 

Every family dynamic has a lot of personalities in play.  I know our family is sprinkled with a little of everything.  We’ve got the strong stoic type, the attention seeking goof ball, the manipulator/peacemaker, and the sensitive type (aka, drama queen princess).  See what I mean about the name calling? Yep.  The strong one is always accused of being bossy.  The attention seeking goofball is accused of being weird and incapable of regulating her behavior.  The manipulator/peacemaker always keeps us guessing because you never know what you’re going to get.  The sensitive one of the bunch is easily hurt emotionally and physically so is often called a princess.

I tell our girls they need to celebrate, respect, and admire each other’s differences.  I also tell them to learn from each other’s differences.  Strong girl, be more sensitive.  Sensitive girl, toughen up a bit.  Goofball, sometimes we need to tune in and be serious.  Manipulator, knock it off sometimes!  Sometimes I think they need to borrow from one another and channel each other’s strengths and differences.  I have a feeling they’ll learn to do this as years pass or at least I hope they do.  I know I do it myself from time to time.  I have so much admiration for them that I can’t help myself!  Watch here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UKYfty8MN8

Xoxo,

Inger