INSPIRING GIRLS WITH WORDS
I have two beautiful redheads - Gingers as I like to call them. They are my world and I am their mama bear. Don't get me wrong - I'm not a helicopter mom. I want to see my kids fall. I want to see them fail. Most importantly, I want to see them get up. I want to see them get up and be pumped to try again. I want their zest for life to come from failing because it means they are working hard at getting better. No different than when they were on their back trying as hard as they could to roll over on their belly. Did they stop because they couldn't do it? Or when they finally got to their belly and pushed themselves up to try and crawl. Did they stop then? What about when they finally got to crawling and then realized they could use their feet to walk. Did they stop there? NO! They got up every single time and have been running ever since. So really, we are succeeding all the time. We succeed because we fail. We all do it. Every last one of us knows how to fall (fail) and get back up. It's hard wired into our brains. How else would we survive? Remember this: First. Attempt. In. Learning.
The first card/poster written by my 10-year old. Spot. On!
So what does this have to do with a couple of gingers and a mom? Glad you asked. I started ginger+BEAR with my daughters for a few reasons. First of all, words are powerful. They can ignite a passion within you. They can remind you of a favorite memory. They can make you happy, sad, worried, excited, mad, the list goes on. But, what I love about words more than anything is their ability to inspire. Inspire you to keep going. Inspire you to believe. Inspire you that you can do it. These are the types of words we focus on in our home. We don't worry about the failures, rather, we focus on the inspiration to be a little better than the day before. We do this by talking, communicating, understanding, believing. We do this by choosing the positive over the negative. We do this by sitting with our feelings, understanding their purpose and then moving on. It's not all Unicorns and Rainbows. Life is messy and unpredictable. It can throw you for a huge loop without any warning at all. And when it does, because it will, will you be ready to deal with it? Will you allow yourself to be agile to work through it?
With inspiring words being the main reason for starting this business, I also want to teach my kids what it means to work at something. I thought it would be a great way for them to use their words to create something special, while learning how business works. From concept and design, to hard costs and time, to fulfillment and customer retention. They write in their journals and the ideas they come up with are genius. The few products we've added in the shop are written by them. I helped with designing, but they wrote all of it. This mama bear is proud already and we are just getting started.
My 7-year old wrote this in my idea journal. Mind blown. :)
Lastly, doing something with my daughters that might help them find their own success in life is rewarding. It's collaborative and fun to see what they are thinking. It's a glimpse into how they perceive the world around them and what ignites their spirit. I am sure we will have a lot of failures along the way and we say, bring it on! Why? We know that each time we fail, we get right back up to make it better the next time. And the more we strive to be better, the more we grow. A simple concept with lots of heart. We hope you enjoy our work and most of all share it with those around you. Because maybe, just maybe, we might inspire you too.
//KT
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