Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Proud of Your Kids? Let Them Know!

Saturday, May 15, 2010 was a wonderful day. Stefanie, my youngest child and only daughter, graduated with honors from CSU Humboldt with a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology.  Pictured above with me ( proud mom!) my dad and his wife Lucille, it is evident that Stef is proud. She should be as she worked very hard to accomplish her goal. The fact that my 78 year old dad traveled over 700 miles to let her know that he is also proud made my day. My dad was always there at our milestone events such as graduation, but as we grew up, he didn't necessarily know how to express his joy and pride. My point isn't to criticize, but to remind myself and all of us to stop, savor and let our children know how very proud we are of them. I grew up thinking that we should not share our accomplishments, remain silent, humble and show others through our actions that we are a success. In a way, my parents had it right. Humility is very important. More importantly, though, is to celebrate our children's hard work by highlighting those times that they push themselves and "go for it!" As my kids grew up I wanted them to know that above anything else, if they gave their all to an endeavor, they could hold their heads high with pride.  Sounds simple, maybe, but priceless to me. 
How do you let your children know you are proud? Please share your stories in the comments section.

4 comments:

Jamie (AKA fiteach) said...

I don't have my own children, but I loved this story! I try to let my students know that I am proud of them though! Thanks for sharing.

Joan Young (aka Mancini) said...

Thank you Jamie! As teachers we have such a wonderful opportunity to let them know we are proud of their accomplishments. I appreciate your comment. :-)

Reading Countess said...

Joan,
I loved this post. It brought tears to my eyes and hit quite close to home. My own parents had/have issues with showing pride/expressing themselves where my brother and I are concerned (and we are grown!) I see, too, that I struggle with this very thing. Luckily, my openly demonstrative husband has no issues and is teaching me to be more open. Thank you for this reminder! Congratulations on your daughter's accomplishment!

Joan Young (aka Mancini) said...

Thanks Tess :-) It's such a huge job, being a parent, and especially scary when we want to do things differently than the way we were raised. I am glad it touched you. Thanks for sharing your experience.