Appreciating My Family for Its Unique Qualities + Quirks

All families have their own unique qualities and quirks that define who they are. My family is no different. I grew up in a family where there was always a lot of drama going on. It made me who I am today, but it also taught me that I don’t want to live a drama-filled life – or for my children to know one.

Brian and I have carved out our own little style of parenting and living our family life. We don’t always take the beaten path, but it’s about the journey as much as the destination so taking those twists and turns in our lives just makes it fuller and richer.

While we absolutely believe that it’s our responsibility to teach our daughters how to grow up and be good citizens in this world, we also want them to feel absolutely comfortable in their own skin. We encourage them to explore their interests and support them in that journey.

Instead of diminishing Zoë’s interest in art (which is traditionally viewed as a poor career path) and pushing her interest in math (which is traditionally seen as a better option for a career path), we nourish both interests so she can make the choices that are right for her. If she decides she wants to be an artist when she grows up like she says, we’ll fully encourage that rather than trying to derail her passions like I see done to so many children.

I hope one day our girls will grow up and see that every decision we made was to help them live a fuller and more experiential life. I hope they will be able to feel the love that we put into our relationships with them. I hope they can appreciate how special I believe our family really is.

We love checking in with them regularly about their thoughts and feelings, so I sat down with them and asked them to tell me why our family is so special. Here are their responses:

Kaylee (Age 5)

Our family is really special because we’re happy. We have each other – the mommy and the daddy and the kids named Zoë and Kaylee. We’re so so so so so much happier than anyone else because we have our whole big family. We have lots of fun together because we make art. We go to the park, jump in a bouncy house, go on rides at carnivals, do ballet class and go to San Diego. We go to crystal mountain where you can find lots of crystals by digging for them. We have lots of fun at Expo West with mommy. I like when mommy plays outside with me. I like playing video games with Daddy. We have lots of fun playing drums and keyboards and djembes.

Zoë (Age 7)

We all love each other because we’re a family. We have lots of fun together. We go to lots of events for fun. We see lots of family that we don’t get to see often. I love my little sister and my mommy and daddy.

Can you tell who likes to talk more??? I love our little family so much.