What Are We Teaching Our Daughters? Take Miley Cyrus, for Example

I am quite sure that most people are over & done with hearing about Miley Cyrus' recent VMA performance. I know that I am! So I only reference it here to make a point about what we are teaching our daughters today. When my teenage daughter was a young girl, she was a huge Miley Cyrus fan. By huge, I mean that she had the backpack, bedspread & sheets, posters, CDs, clothes.....you name it, she had it. She was Miley Cyrus obsessed.

Boundaries

Growing up as a shy girl, I was too afraid to stand up for myself because I lacked the courage, for one thing, & for another, I didn't want to hurt someones feelings. As I got older, I began to realize that while I'm worrying about not wanting to hurt someones feelings, I'm forgetting that the person I need to stand up to, is not worrying about hurting mine. So begins my epiphany.....

What Is Family, Anyway?

This is a subject that is close to my heart. I want to share how my views on what constitutes "family", has changed in recent years, because I am beginning to realize that the older I get, the more my perspectives on so many things I thought were set in stone, have actually changed.

Respect

This is a long post. Brace yourselves.......

Respect was important, as I was growing up. If any of my 5 siblings or I showed disrespect toward my parents, we either got "the look" from my father, the "I'm very disappointed in you" from my mother, a spanking on the bottom (depending upon the degree of disrespect), or we were made to brush our teeth with a bar of soap (reserved for times of extreme sassing, such as the time when I yelled at the top of my lungs that I hated my father's guts, just because he scolded me for being sloppy when I was drying the dishes). Before anyone cries "ABUSE!!", let me just say that I never felt abused as a child. I grew up in a very loving home, by two very wonderful parents. My parents loved me enough to discipline me when I needed it. Back then, parents weren't afraid to discipline their kids, because it was called good parenting. I felt secure & safe because I knew what my boundaries were, & I knew my parents cared enough about me to set them.