«
»

Germaine

February 27, 2009 - 4:34 pm 6 Comments

So my daughter draws all kinds of monsters, some conjured from the recesses of her mind. I am awed, humbled and impressed, all at the same time.

She also did an architectural looking sketch of the Eiffel tower for her camp tee design (which I of course forgot to snap a picture before she submitted it)


My daughter, cool in a kooky nonchalant way

I have long learned to let go when it was painfully clear that she was not and will never be the stupidly mystical girly princess I conjured in my mind. You know, the ballerina who plays the piano, incurably dainty, minds her Ps and Qs and is princessably (yes, I know there is no such word, but hey this is my blog) perfect. I had pigheadedly tried to enrol her in ballet when it was clear that she prefers sports like netball, tennis and soccer.

I call it the ‘trying to do the right thing’ complex and I have been fighting this ever since.

The right thing – this is highly debatable and indeed, if we try to define it by the world’s standard (and by the world, I mean meddling nosy people who have no business commenting in other people’s family business), it is headed for disaster.

To define it by our own parenting standards is another minefield because like it or not, we are burdened by the influences of our own upbringing, the baggage from our own childhood and experience, and the conventions of society. It takes a very conscious effort to break out and look at things from a fresh eye of perspective.

You know how it is in dreams – you think you are seeing and experiencing things but when you really open your eyes, you realize that you are in quite another place and seeing quite something else?

So my girl is not a fairy tale princess.

She plays defender in the school netball team. She plays soccer with boys. She drops 100 pushups (proper kickass pushups and not girly ‘knee’ pushups) at a go. She wants to play the guitar and drums. Her art blows my mind.

I think my daughter is darn cool in a way that rocks my world and it sure as hell aint hereditary.

Tags: ,   Posted Germaine, Musings, kids, motherhood |

6 Responses to “Germaine”

  1. brian Says:
    March 2nd, 2009 at 1:09 pm

    I think your daughter is awesomely cool -) When i have a kid of my own, we’ll swap stories and get tips from you -)

    you have an insight that celebrates children’s creativity rather than belittle it for our own dreams -)

    you had me at the uber dinosaur picture -)

  2. Xtralicious Says:
    March 3rd, 2009 at 12:58 pm

    Thanks Brian :)

  3. Lilian Says:
    March 6th, 2009 at 3:35 pm

    On the contrary, if I had a daughter, I’d love a kick-ass rocker-chick one like Germaine! Have never liked the guniang, love-everything-pink, whiney, everything-complain-to-mummy-or-cheecher, pretty-dressy type of girl. I always feel like slapping little girls like that. Germaine seems like a very grounded, down-to-earth girl who knows what she wants, you should be very proud. Gorgeous drawing too. And 100 pushups! I can barely do 10 of the fakey push-ups.

  4. Xtralicious Says:
    March 12th, 2009 at 8:58 pm

    Thanks Lilian (flylady). Geanyne is more of the feminine, sweetiepie, love everything pink Mummy’s girl but thankfully she is so not the complaining or whining type (which I abhor so much too!)

    I think God has given me two daughters of very different characters and personalities!

  5. E Says:
    February 25th, 2010 at 1:21 am

    Hi! I’ve forgotten how I landed here, but just wanted to say I loved this post. :)

    - From a mom who also thinks her little gal rocks.

  6. Rachel Says:
    February 25th, 2010 at 12:05 pm

    E: Thank you!

Leave a Reply