"Teach your daughters to worry less about fitting into glass slippers
and more about shattering glass ceilings."
and more about shattering glass ceilings."
Looking back, I can’t really identify any strong female role models that I had to look up to. There were numerous fictional characters, especially being a 9 year old girl oddly obsessed with Shakespeare’s heroines, but no one in my day to day world that I could relate to. It’s sad to say, but no one was really around long enough to set that kind of example for me; the majority of teachers and peers come in and out of your life with each year that passes.
Come to think of it, there weren’t any male role models either for that matter.
Yes, yes, I know what you are thinking; weren’t your parents your most important role models? Sadly, no. They weren’t all bad, my mother anyway, but they modeled more about what/who not to be than setting the standards for which to live by. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a say in the matter.
But now, as an adult, I get to choose who I surround myself with and who I look up to.
I have fellow Mommy friends who inspire and encourage me every day, professional friends who are excelling in their fields and teaching me about potential, colleagues who are strong in leadership and supportive of my thoughts and ideas for change, and so many others who I aspire to be like and look up to with admiration. And it isn’t only the adults in my life, there are some really great kids in my extended family too! I look around at some of the teenagers in my life and think wow… why couldn’t I have been more like him/her when I was that age (or even now)?
Maybe they aren’t the people you would think of as your traditional role models, such as people in positions of leadership, authority, and celebrities, but they are all setting such amazing examples of positivity and success that they make me believe that anything is possible. And, whatever they are labeled as, these are the people who I want to surround my daughter with in life – now and forever. They are the examples that I would like to show her, and hope that she grows up to be.
And, most importantly, I hope that I can be the role model to my daughter that I needed when I was younger.
