The Perfect Host

My daughter celebrated her 5th birthday on the weekend and, I must say, I think I've raised the perfect little hostess. I'm quite amazed, really, at how comfortable she is in social settings. She barely hesitates when putting on performances for an entire room (her creations, of course!), and has no issues with standing up and thanking her guests, stating with great aplomb, "Thank you all for coming... this has been the best party ever!"

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, as I'm a pretty social person, myself. But she's five! She's got more self-confidence and gumption in her pinky finger than I had at that age...heck, probably more than I have now! It makes me wonder if this will remain - if the wonderful, carefree, self-assuredness that I see in her now will stay with her throughout the tumultuous teen years and beyond. In this age of negative female body images, bullying and "mean girls", I sure hope so. It is exactly those traits that I want my daughter to possess so she can weather the teenage storm, so to speak.

While I often shake my fist at the frustration of dealing with a stubborn 5-year-old, I must remember that this willfulness is really just my little girl's independent spirit learning to fly. She's testing her boundaries because that's what kids do. So I need to realize, in those moments, that I wouldn't want her to blindly follow my instructions, but instead question, reason and rationalize what I've told her and make her own decision about how she'll respond.

After all, I'm raising a leader, not a follower.