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Friday, April 8, 2011

Internal Source

There's nothing that I want more for my daughter than well-being and happiness.  I notice as she "goes out into the world and spreads her wings" (as a two year old does) that there are things I want to control for her, or that I have the tendency to want to control for her.  For instance, when she goes places where I'm not, she'll be offered different foods and she'll be exposed to different things than she would be offered or exposed to here at home or with me in general.  However I've come to my own conclusions about what to eat or what not to eat, or how to be or not to be, they are my conclusions.  And although I will ultimately influence her decisions to a certain extent, and influence her preferences and possibly her choices just by virtue of being in close proximity with her, what I really want her to know and feel is that she has her own guidance, her own "fog light" if you will, that shines brightly which will lead her to the best decisions for herself about herself.  We are bombarded with information these days from so many different sources, all of them external, and I want her to follow her internal source.  The one that says, "this is what's best for me", or "this is what's true for me", regardless of what my mom, my dad, my peers, my community, the magazines, the tv., the internet, the "experts" say, because there's no better expert of Franki, than Franki....even if she is only two years old.  And you know what, she likely knows this better than I do already.

3 comments:

Ayden's Dad said...

I LIKE the term "internal fog light"!!! I think it refers to that sense/instinct we're all born with, spend our first few years depending on, and then it just gets beaten out of us...

Being a dad again after a 20 year break, I've come to look at parenthood quite differently; I truly believe that a 22 month old's internal fog light pin-points to the essence of human existence a lot more accurately than mine does.... I believe that we all stand to learn from our little ones a thing or two, and every time I think along those lines I pray that I can step up to the task of somehow encouraging him to continue to look at life and people the way he does now, no matter how "hard" it may become for him.

Teaching my little one to trust his internal "fog light" will probably be the toughest goal I have ever had to reach and guess what, I am looking forward to that challenge and I pray that I don't let him down...

Christine Meyer said...

In your own words, "I pray that I can step up to the task of somehow encouraging him to continue to look at life and people the way he does now",..you can do that by following your own internal fog light and continually guiding him toward his. In other words, tell him to please himself and to follow what feels good to him, as you do the same, and he'll "get" it. You won't let him down and you don't have to teach him...he already knows this, and now, through your life experience, you've come to know again as well. You're not "teaching" him...Ayden is helping you remember who you really are....

Ayden's Dad said...

You are absolutely correct, he doesn't need me or any one else to "teach" him to trust his internal light; he already does and I only WISH that he continues to do so.

I once was in the same place Ayden is today and lost my proverbial way until several years ago, when situations in my life forced me to re-evaluate who and why I am. I prey that he doesn't take the detour that I did, and he maintains his center and his balance so he can fulfill his "purpose"...

All that having been said, I am adding a short typewritten sentence to the piece of laminated paper behind my driver side visor. It reads as follows:
" Ayden is here to help me remember who I am and not the other way around"

Thank you friend!