Before starting school, 5-yr-old gets lesson from mom: ‘Be unapologetically you’
A letter from a mother to her five-year-old daughter is inspiring parents the world over.
A letter from a mother to her five-year-old daughter is inspiring parents the world over.
Writer Toni Hammer dedicated a Facebook post to her five-year-old daughter to inspire confidence as she starts kindergarten. The post details a list of ‘Don’ts’ whenever she feels the pressure to conform to society’s expectations.
“Don’t apologize when someone else bumps into you. Don’t say ‘sorry to be such a pain.’ You’re not a pain. You’re a person with thoughts and feelings who deserves respect,” she wrote.
Hammer encourages her daughter not to overthink what she eats and to eat whatever and whenever she wants. “If you want pizza, don’t get a salad just because other people are around. Order the damn pizza”.
Hammer writes that her daughter shouldn’t be afraid to cry. “Crying means you’re feeling something that needs to get out. It’s not a weakness. It’s being human.”
And finally, the ‘stay-at-home’ mother tells her daughter not to apologise for being who she is. “Be brave and bold and beautiful. Be unapologetically you.”
Hammer told HuffPost that as a child, she was “picked on a lot” and she didn’t want her daughter to experience the same.
“I hate the idea of her going through what I did. I know it won’t be long before someone tries to make her feel ‘less than’ and I want her to face it with more confidence then I had at that age,” she said.
Hammer said she wants to raise a daughter who is as confident as she is kind and “isn’t afraid to speak her mind and work hard to make the world a better place”.
The post quickly became popular on Facebook, with nearly 8,500 reactions and 6,000 shares.
Some pointed out that the post applies not just to women, but men too.
But there were some who didn’t agree with Hammer’s idea of making her daughter a stronger person:
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