{"id":1414,"date":"2016-10-11T22:31:08","date_gmt":"2016-10-11T22:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/socamom.com\/w\/international-day-of-the-girl-2016\/"},"modified":"2023-09-04T22:20:47","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T04:20:47","slug":"international-day-of-the-girl-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/socamom.com\/w\/international-day-of-the-girl-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"International Day of the Girl Child 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/p>\n

When I had my daughter, I remember asking myself, \u201chow will I do this?\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 I had already had two boys, and I was happy to be adding some estrogen to the house.\u00a0 She arrived amid much medical drama, but she was so calm.\u00a0 I can\u2019t remember how her cry sounded.\u00a0 She just sat. Not docile, not shy, just observant.<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t say much or babble or make noise just to hear herself. She just sat and watched us from behind her pacifier.\u00a0 Her eyes were intense, cheeks inflated, body way past plump, and her hair, sparse.<\/p>\n

Read also:\u00a0When My Black Girl Wants to Wear Her Hair “Down”<\/a><\/p>\n

I saw having a girl as ballet lessons, Sunday dresses, and doing hair<\/strong> \u2013 for real this time \u2013 not just the corn rows that I did for my boys, but real styles with beads and bows and super straight parts.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t give me much to work with as far as hair goes, but I soon realized that it wasn\u2019t what was on her head that I should be concerned about, but what was going on inside of it.<\/p>\n

She took her sweet time doing physical things like rolling over, crawling, and walking.\u00a0<\/strong> The pediatrician asked me if she was rolling over. I told her I didn\u2019t know.\u00a0 She looked at me like I was insane.\u00a0 It was a look that wouldn\u2019t leave her face when she asked me what my li\u2019l bit did when I put her down on the floor. I told her flatly, \u201cI don\u2019t do that. Nobody does.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t remember her creeping on her belly or crawling, but even before she mastered locomotion, she had plenty to say<\/strong>. She was clear, concise, and meant every word she said. She loved purses, fancy dresses, and fancy shoes, and frilly socks, and I carefully laid out her outfits nightly. One day she toddled into the room, holding on to the wall to help her balance, waited for everyone to realize she was there, and announced, \u201cI\u2019m Faaableeeush.\u201d She paused to give us a moment to agree. We did.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell them that the most important aspect is to be yourself and have confidence in yourself.\u201d ~ Wilma Rudolph<\/em><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t want her to run track.<\/strong> I wanted her to do what her physique said that she would be good at. I wanted her to use the gifts that I thought God gave her, and I would encourage those.\u00a0 God gave her so many gifts that I didn\u2019t think about connecting to sports.\u00a0 She is a fighter, determined, and focused. She\u2019s never been to steady on her feet, but she reminds me of Wilma Rudolph, one of my favorite runners of all time.<\/p>\n

She never shied away from anything.<\/strong> At three she got a fortune in a cookie that said, \u201cpractice makes perfect.\u201d She still has it. She believes it.\u00a0 Her dad and I are former athletes, so we could just look at her and see anything but a basketball player, soccer player, tennis player, or runner.\u00a0 She would be a dancer or a rhythmic gymnast. She was soft and flexible, and if there was a definition of \u201crunning like a girl,\u201d she was it.<\/p>\n

Read also:\u00a0Back to School Shopping<\/a>\u00a0with my li’l bit<\/p>\n

She\u2019s 10 now and has decided to run track.\u00a0<\/strong> She says it is \u201cstrictly social\u201d but she jogs around the house to practice (presumably to make perfect) and is always pleased with herself when she sees that she\u2019s gotten a little bit faster on the track.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe potential for greatness lives within each of us.\u201d ~ Wilma Rudolph<\/em><\/p>\n

When it was time to sign her up for track, I was nervous.<\/strong> For the first time, I was all for participation medals. What if she came in last? What if she fell? How would she feel? What would I tell her? Would it be my fault for telling her she could do it?<\/p>\n

\u201cWinning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the\u00a0secret is learning how to lose.\u201d ~ Wilma Rudolph\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

We packed away the ballet and jazz shoes, and I took her out to buy running shoes and spikes.<\/strong>\u00a0 Her dad is usually in charge of all the sports shopping, but she wanted me to take her so I did. My idea of what having a girl child would be was nothing like the girl child I was. My li\u2019l bit was more like me than I thought. I was no longer the former athlete watching her baby girl struggle under the weight of a Dora the Explorer tennis racket or lamenting her lack of skills on the monkey bars. My baby girl was fighting her way out of the box that I put her in, and making me watch and participate.\u00a0 She was all business -going through the selection of shoes looking for style and comfort. I was so proud, and her little feet hadn\u2019t even touched the track yet. I was on board \u2013 like I had a choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy doctors told me I would never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother.\u201d ~ Wilma Rudolph<\/em><\/p>\n

I figured that whatever I told her, she\u2019d believe it.<\/strong> She\u2019d live by it.\u00a0 I told her that her goal was to get better at every practice. Be faster at the next practice than she was before. Have fun. Make friends. Do her best and that, in and of itself, would be great.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what you\u2019re trying to accomplish. It\u2019s all a matter of discipline.\u201d ~ Wilma Rudolph<\/em><\/p>\n

She believed me.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMommy! I beat a BOY in practice today! I also beat a girl, but she is my friend and I don\u2019t know how I feel about that. I\u2019m still not that fast, but I don\u2019t care what anyone says, participation medals totally count!\u201d<\/p>\n

Related:\u00a0“Gym Boots” and Gender Equality: 19 Writing Prompts to Inspire and Enlighten Your Daughters and Sons<\/a><\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t seen her run yet because of my schedule, but from what I understand, she\u2019s not breaking any records just yet.\u00a0<\/strong> It is the strangest thing. I am so excited for her. She\u2019s doing something that she\u2019s not necessarily \u201cbuilt for,\u201d but she is out there. As competitive as I am, I never thought that I\u2019d be the parent cheering her heart out for my kid in last place. I just never put my kids in an activity where they could be last \u2013 probably as much for them as for me.\u00a0 I never understood those moms and dads who came out week after week hauling chairs and coolers to watch their kid sit on the bench.<\/p>\n

Well, now I\u2019m that mom. I can\u2019t wait for her first track meet. She\u2019s going to go out there and do her best, and I\u2019ll be cheering her on like she\u2019s leading the pack\u2026 and who knows \u2013 she just might be.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNever underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.\u201d ~ Wilma Rudolph<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/p>\n

When I had my daughter, I remember asking myself, \u201chow will I do this?\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 I had already had two boys, and I was happy to be adding some estrogen to the house.\u00a0 She arrived amid much medical drama, but she was so calm.\u00a0 I can\u2019t remember how her cry sounded.\u00a0 She just sat. Not docile, not shy, just observant.<\/p>\n

Continue reading ➞ International Day of the Girl Child 2016<\/span><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parenting-blog"],"yoast_head":"\nInternational Day of the Girl Child 2016 - Socamom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/socamom.com\/w\/international-day-of-the-girl-2016\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"International Day of the Girl Child 2016 - Socamom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0 When I had my daughter, I remember asking myself, \u201chow will I do this?\u201d\u00a0 I had already had two boys, and I was happy to be adding some estrogen to the house.\u00a0 She arrived amid much medical drama, but she was so calm.\u00a0 I can\u2019t remember how her cry sounded.\u00a0 She just sat. 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