Entries from May 2009 ↓

Last night my seven-year-old daughter, Ainsley, had the privileged of seeing her grandmother become a Licensed Minister.

My mother-in-law Peggy Thornton became, the FIRST female Licensed Minister in her church.

It was very exciting to finally have her work acknowledged and validated after all these years – I’m sure for her, but for Jeremy, Ainsley, Zack and I too.

My in-laws, Danny and Peggy Thornton, run a missionary organization called Beyond Ourselves. They are missionary clowns. They go to 3rd world countries – Peru, Columbia, Venezuela, Bolivia – orchestrating big conferences to teach clowning, puppets and mime to Sunday school teachers. My father-in-law has been a minister for eons, as was his father and his brother as well. Peggy has been a Minister without a title, until last night.

It’s great to see churches acknowledging the leadership roles already being performed by women.

Validating.

I am so very proud of her.

What’s your daughter afraid of? How to you help them through it to find their courage and inner peace?

I try to teach my kids what works for me. I use a technique called tapping. It’s basically acupressure you apply to your self to release extra energy. Think of fear is emotional energy. Anger as emotional energy.

If you had the power to tap on parts of your body to release fear and anger wouldn’t you do it? Wouldn’t you want to teach your kids how to do it?

It works for me and I use it frequently.

The other day Ainsley and Zack were at the neighbor’s house and they started a scary movie. They left right away, but Ainsley saw enough to keep her scared that night.

I sat with her doing some tapping and deep breathing exercises (in through the nose and out through the mouth) to get her mind off of it, clear the energy out of her body, relax her, and help her focus on something positive while she lay down to sleep.

I tell her to realize that she’s the one controlling her thoughts, no one else has control of her brain, so she is the one who has the power to choose to think about something else.

About half way through she said, We do this at school.

You do? I was a little surprised.

Yeah, before we take a test and stuff, we to these kinds of tapping on our fingers and we cross our arms and do deep breathing to clear our minds so we can focus better.

Who knew?

Watch a video and learn about tapping at www.tapping.com .

This post is simultaneously published on PunditMoms’ Mother’s of Intention Series.

I ate the rest of the popcorn, Ainsley reported with her “am I in trouble?” face.

Was that healthy for your body? I asked her.

Uh, no, she said.

You know, you’re responsible for your own body, I informed her. You shouldn’t eat or not eat because we’ll get mad – you should eat or not eat according to what will be the healthiest choice for your body. You’re the one who has to live in your body so you want to keep it as healthy as possible.

Okay.

You know what’s good for you, I reminded her.  Even if Mommy or Daddy aren’t with you, you still have to make the healthiest choice for your body. So, just because someone offers you another piece of cake and we’re not there to say NO, doesn’t mean you should eat the cake.

Okay let’s practice, she said. Ask me if I want two cupcakes.

Okay, I’ll be Grandma, I joked. I have Blue Bell Vanilla Ice Cream, I made seven kinds of delicious pie, here’s two jars of candy. Don’t you want another piece of cake?

Thank you, I’d love a small piece of that cake please. And that’s plenty, Ainsley said.

Having cheated on my own self – with food, smoking, not exercising, various substances, even sex – for years I know only too well how stupid and futile it is to pretend that someone else has more of a vested interest in the health of my body than I do.

I also know, from my last three years of trying to recover from baby and lazy that it’s a hell of a lot easier to stay fit than get fit.

Fit Girl Series: We Did It

Fit Girl Series: Accept Your Body

Fit Girl Series: Friends, Strangers With Candy

Fit Girl Series: Comparing Children

Fit Girl Series: Exercise Poll

Fit Girl Series: Eat This, Not That!

Fit Girl Series: BIG FAT LIARS!

Fit Girl Series: Obese Teens on Oprah

Fit Girl Series: Weight = Moral Failure

Fit Family = Fit Girl

Hello Readers,

This is a request for submissions to be posted on The Girl Revolution.

Last year on vacation I wrote my blogs. In large part because I agreed to drive a Chevy Tahoo across the country and blog it. This year, we’re off to my sister’s wedding in Utah and I’m going to write nothing. I haven’t done that for more than a weekend in almost three years. I need a vacation.

I’m looking for book reviews, subjects you’re passionate about, essays, product reviews, etc.

I would prefer stories to be under 1,000 words. I’d also like to print a photo with the story – a photo of the author or the author’s daughter or something that goes with the piece.

I’m open to all subjects as long as it pertains to The Girl Revolution in some way. I’d be interested in stories about sons too, if they are connected with perceptions of girls or treatment of girls or relationships to girls.

If you have a blog I will link back. I don’t mind if the story has already been published and you just want to expose a new audience to it. Stories will run May 18 – June 1.

Deadline Monday, May 11, 2009.

Please email me the story – with links – to traceesioux@gmail.com.

This Supreme Court has entirely too much testosterone.

Click Here to encourage Pres. Obama to appoint a woman.

There’s no possible way one woman and eight men can get us to Justice in the United States of America.

Your daughter needs a role model with real power, she needs representation, she needs a feminine perspective of justice and law and so does the rest of the country.

Image Source: Lawyer’s USA Online