The third trimester just started and my beautiful partner in this big game thought we should stop talking about it and get our ideas down. Our hopes and aspirations of what we want our little cupcake to know. Lessons we hope she learns either from us or from the ridiculous world we live in.
So here we go, as we think about it and in no particular order (yet), these are the lessons we hope our baby learns:
To have a sense of humor: I'm not surprised this one came up first. Literally no one enjoys being around someone without a sense of humor. Laughing with others and at yourself is one of the most important and adult things someone can learn. It will definitely come in handy in high school or when she starts to learn about politics as well.
To Value Herself: Self respect (respect in general... which needs to be earned and deserved on each end, be tee dub) isn't necessarily the easiest thing to come by. It's often mistaken with self importance, pride, or selfishness. Knowing how to stand up for herself and how to navigate relationships with friends, family and eventually (in 25-30 years) whomever she ends up choosing to spend her life with is a incomparable skill.
That being said, she's gotta go with the flow, let things go... without letting people walk all over her. Sometimes you just have to let things go. They're not worth fighting with, worrying about or losing sleep over. Learning how to choose your battles without being a doormat isn't easy. Her mom and dad have helped each other a lot with this lesson, so ideally she'll have an excellent base.
Curiosity didn't kill the cat, ignorance did: Let's talk a little bit about learning to learn. We want nothing more than for our baby to drink in the world around her. We hope she asks questions, makes mistakes, learns from those mistakes, asks questions about them, reads about them, writes them down, has discussions about them with her friends, critically thinks them through, asks more questions and then smiles knowing she just learned a ton and it was awesome.
People are amazing: We've mentioned learning from people, her parents, and the world around her, but it goes both ways. We hope she contributes. Helps the world around her. Helps others learn to love each other and their world, including her own love of learning. We have been very lucky and worked very hard to be happy and healthy in our life together, so we really hope to pass that down to baby Chew... along with the value of taking care of people around her. Her friends, family, pets, and the less fortunate. (Another solid middle/high school lesson). If you can adapt to any situation... you can hang out with anyone and you will constantly be meeting new people. As we said, people are amazing.
Appreciate the outdoors: Camping, swimming, puddle jumping or generally getting dirty, we don't care. There is a lot to be learned from playing outside and we both hope she learns all of it.
Find a niche in the arts, no matter what it is: If I (her dad in this case) had three wishes, one would be musical talent of any kind. Her mommy is remarkably creative and artistic whereas her dad is mildly clever and can throw a couple sentences together from time to time. The arts are so important and so fascinating. We hope little baby Chew embraces the arts and finds something she is great at.
Easy one... we really hope she loves to read: She will learn from the world around her constantly and naturally, but if she loves to read it makes picking out those messages that much easier.
No matter what she can always count on her family.
She values her health. Eating well, sleeping well, being active, avoiding stress, stretching, smiling, laughing and hugging. They are all equally as important and lead to a happy healthy life.
Eventually, we hope she finds a good balance in life between becoming a hard worker and having a ton of fun. This will come with time and after a whole bunch of strife and hard learned life lessons, but it's so important. You can't be one thing. Depth of character, personality, vision, love, and capacity for understanding aren't rare, but they are rarely perfected. Becoming a balancing figure in her own life and in the world around her or in the lives of her friends and family won't be easy. With all the lessons we want to teach her, she has a great shot of making it happen.
Finally, we hope our little girl has an endlessly open mind and a willingness to grow and change as she learns each new lesson. Never stop. Never settle. Always strive for more. Become better than you thought you could be and when it seems like it's too hard, call your parents. Cry if you need to. Get it off your chest and walk it off. Let love in and give it right back.
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