Just a Woman raising a Woman

I am a mother who is raising a girl, who will hopefully turn into a young lady, who will eventually turn into a young women, who in her life, I hope, will fulfill her greatest dreams and goals, whatever they may be. Raising a daughter is about a thousand times different then raising a son. Don’t get me wrong I think mother’s that have to raise sons have just as much work cut out for them, to raise the kind of man that they would proud of someday, it’s just that when raising them, it’s …different.




I know this because a few of my dear friends are raising sons now, and whenever we get together and we are talking about the kids, the things they react to are completely different then the things that I react too. And no this isn’t the whole, “ Well you just parent different then they do,” speech, because we all parent differently. We all believe that some things are important and some things aren’t worth the argument. Anyway, being a women while raising a daughter is a very trying task, because you know how it feels when they go through certain things in their life, you understand that rebellious teenage stage that you also went through, you understand that there will be days they will look in the mirror and want to wish they never existed, you completely get when they treat a boy like dirt they really can’t stand to be close to them in case their true feelings come out, you get rejection, crushes, figuring out what your style is, twisting you Dad around you finger, loving good hair days, hating a certain time of the month from 13 on. You get the excitement of the phone ringing when waiting for a certain someone to call, the giddiness of your first sleepovers and the many more that will follow. A woman…gets it!



So when you are a woman raising another woman, you are linked more than just biologically you and her are linked on a very special emotional link that no father/daughter interaction can ever comprehend. I both fight the same, because as all woman know, we have the tendency (whether intentionally or not) to fight dirty, we have irresistibility on our side.



There are many reasons why I have this topic on my mind this week, mainly because my daughter and I have had way to much time together, since Mr. Stanley was out of town all week. But I think because my dear husband is by far the nurturing one when it comes to infants, toddlers, school ages, where as my most skilled parenting (I think), will come in hand when the adolescent stages kick in. Of course I don’t fully know that but I always am thinking into the future when it comes to Cecelia by like 10 years. I think I just have this strange link inside my brain that always will prepare me for the worst. Not that I believe that Cecelia will be that much of a handful, or she might be, but I just want to do the best that I can, without dissolving our relationship over things that we see differently, but to make sure that while raising her I make her see just how much she has in the world. That she will always be open to love. That she will respect herself and her family. That she will forever know just how much her father and I lover her, to the very depth of our souls. These are just a few of the things I hope for her, and the pressure is that all women have the pressure, to raise excellent children because, no matter how the world is changing now, women are still thought of as the one responsible for the outcome of their children boy or girl. But when you are a woman raising a young lady, how that young lady goes about portraying herself will always make people wonder who the woman was behind that young lady. I just want Cecelia to be proud to tell people that I was that woman, who helped raise her.