As a child, when your Mother believes in you, you believe in yourself, and when that happens, there is nothing you can’t do. As a Mother, that is the greatest gift we can give to a child

Caroline Kennedy- She Walks in Beauty: A Woman’s Journey Through Poems

The holiday season has just left us. You’ve recycled the environmentally friendly wrapping, or put away the gift bags to be used next year. The credit card bills haven’t quite hit the mailbox yet. But the gifts have been given. The physical show of love has been exchanged…

I’m all for gifts. I still remember when my daughter was seven and she received the Hannah Montana Malibu Beach House, the years of the American Girl stuff…This year the highlight was tickets to see Funny Girl on Broadway. To be clear, I like the idea of giving gifts. I think it’s OK to want something tangible, or an awesome experience.

However…

Even though I have given my daughter a lot of physical things…

The greatest gift I ever gave her was the that I believed in her- that I thought she was strong and capable and had the ability to set a goal and work towards it. I taught her that it’s is OK to make a mistake, to fail. I taught her that the greatest asset you can have is resilience…

Physical gifts are wonderful, but they won’t make you a better person. Buying something doesn’t give you confidence. Owning something doesn’t make you stronger. The things that really matter are the things that reside in your head and heart: confidence and determination and a thirst for knowledge. These are the things that a parent or primary caregiver can give a child.

So next time you’re with you’re kid, remind them that you think they are special. Give them the courage to try something new. Be there to pick them up when they fall, but then push them to try again. These are the best gifts to give a child- the gift of you believing in them.

36 thoughts on “Believe”

  4. My Mother has always been my biggest fan. I played basketball in middle school and I didn’t start, wasn’t very good. My Mother was on the 1st row at every one of my gamesmanship! I’m 42 years old and she still is my biggest fan❤ She’s always believed in me and always supported me. It’s the best thing EVER!

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  6. The relationship between mother and children is so important. My mom was a wonderfully ally for myself and my brothers. I have stepchildren (2) and it was more challenging to forge the bond since there are so many things I don’t know about them. I did not raise them. Now I have many grandchildren and the bond is there and they call me ‘grandma.’ I hope as my husband and I get older that we will have the chance to be there more often for them.

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  10. I never had that growing up, being encouraged in this way. But it made me determined to parent differently. I understand why I never got it (not an excuse, but empathy toward the situation my own parents grew up in), and I knew it was up to me to change the tide. I’ve done the best I can to show my children I believe in them and that they are capable of doing awesom things. Like you, enjoyed givingthem gifts but they will never replace the encouragement of a parent. Love to hear that your daughter has been fortunate to receive this from you!

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  13. To be honest, that is a gift I was never given and it shows sometimes. But it is so important. As a parent it is so easy to let our kids take the easy way or worse,to do for them. The hardest thing for a parent to do is to let their child go. Let the child grow, leave the nest and try. They will never know what they are capable of unless they try. They will fail sometimes, but in the end they will learn that even failure can lead to growth.

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  20. Absolutely! The biggest gift we can give anyone is to believe in them. I’ve become “mother” to a lot of people in my life because I’m not stingy with my praise. I love to lift people up and reflect back to them the way I see them—for everyone has beautiful talents and skills and they just need someone to say “wow. I’m proud of you.”

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