Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Give Her the Tools

When raising daughters...okay, I didn’t get to but if you’re lucky enough to be given that blessing...
Do NOT try to dumb down her vocabulary as she finds and uses better ways to converse. More tools = more self respect. She doesn’t have to appear dumb to be accepted. SHE can color her world - all around her verbal imagination. She’s not a threat to you. She’s just a word smith, an artist especially when she discovers her funny and intuitive phrasing as a young sponge, painting a picture or seeding a charming thought. Sewing with well chosen words, she’s taking you with her. Thank her for making you think, don’t try to inhibit her journey and its roads. New words are exciting. Descriptive, concise, imaginative, just...well, all the more complete. She’s learn-ing not learn-ed. She is finding her voice at ANY age. It isn’t an affront to your simple delivery. Learn to listen, not to loathe. It’s the flourish at the end of a serif. It’s the beginning and end of a thought. Or no “finite” at all. A germ of word-fare, not killing one soul. She is not showy but showing you something new. You know the words. Don’t do that stupid face when they’re uttered. You give your insecurity away. There ARE better words in your satchel.
My Dad learned a new word a day. “The dictionary is a gift and a tool”, his mantra. Sprinkle some discovered knowledge and ignore the looks. Beat the crosswords, tell a joke. Devour the books. Somewhere, hopefully at home, she’ll speak her familiar language with her similar peer(s). Advocate the curiosity that spells a craven need for new colors, different inflections. It opens doors, no matter how small, Alice. How hard is that to understand? Just what a girl could use, no matter the task. The A to Z of it all. Everything at her disposal...it may save her life or at the very least, it’ll show her a boundless world. Who wouldn’t want that for her? I do.

sjacobsfabian2017©