What I Want My Granddaughter To Know

My granddaughter is such a smart and kind young lady. At 12 years old, she is very mature and easy to talk with. Yet I worry about her. Girls her age are so fragile. They are just learning to express themselves. At that age, it seems you learn everything through trial and error. You can't just read a book and have it all figured out.

I hope that she'll be able to recognize and build healthy relationships with her classmates and avoid those who don't respect her or her emotions. I want her to own her mistakes and accept constructive criticism without losing her confidence and ambitions. I'd like her to be a leader rather than a follower.


Role models are hard to come by these days and it seems the media focuses more on the ones who get everything wrong than on the ones getting it right. There are a handful of movies out there that celebrate strong, independent women and I hope that those are the ones that will have some influence on her rather than all the movies with the token hot chick who plays the damsel in distress.

We've come to recognize the danger of bullies in our schools and are trying to fix that problem. What I didn't see coming, however, was the momentous bullying going on in the "adult" world. It first hit me when Kanye West stormed the stage during Taylor Swift's acceptance speech for Best Female Video in 2009. The truth is, our exposure to bullies doesn't end when childhood does.

I realize that the number of narrrow minded, intolerant, opinionated and prejudiced people who bully us will always plague our country. This country is filled with racism and self-righteous sanctimoniousness. Unfortunately, there is no law against being small minded or ignorant, regardless of the danger it inflicts upon others when mob mentality reigns. This is especially true when outspoken propagandists such as Glenn Beck, Don Imus, Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh spout their opinions on public airwaves. (All our political candidates bashing each other at every opportunity is not what I want my granddaughter to see when she turns on the news either. These are not good examples of leaders; they are just a bunch of bullies.)

How does this psychological aggression affect our granddaughters? Worse, how will it affect the way they are perceived by their male peers? (There is certainly nothing "Christian" about this behavior and we can't blame everything on the left or the right.) We need to start building our granddaughters up and stop tearing them down. Being a bully doesn't get you any respect. It gives you a bad reputation and it's time we each took a long hard look in the mirror. It's time we focus on character and ethical qualities in the people we look up to and choose to lead us. Trustworthiness has to come first in the people we want our children to respect and even admire. When someone pretending to be a friend hurts you either physically or psychologically, they are a bully, and our granddaughters need to know not to blame themselves for these experiences.

Our granddaughters possess the potential to do great things in their lifetimes - let's give them the skills and confidence to be our leaders!