In my children’s Halloween book series, there is always a moral to the story. I wrote these books for myself AND for my daughters–they are my own life lessons unfolding on the pages of a children’s book, and they contain a message that I have learned that I want my daughter’s to know. In every book, the main character has something she must overcome, but in reality, “overcoming” is truly about discovering “ones true self,” buried deep down in the darkness within.
In this article, I pay tribute to mother’s raising strong daughters, because we are the ones who discover how to take down the evil queen and find the moral of our own story–the same moral that we pass on to our own strong daughters!
The Everything Housewife is the Author of “Alora, The Birth of a Good Witch,” and “Pumpkin Spice” from The Realm of Halloween Series. She is also the author of the ongoing, History of Halloween Article Series. She is a wife, mother, blogger, writer, illustrator and a whole lot more!
By: The Everything Housewife
I AM WHO I AM
When you visit my website, The Everything Housewife, you will discover that I am a lot of things. I craft, I sew, I cook, I decorate, I write, I even illustrate my own children’s Halloween Books, but of all those things, most of all I am a wife and a mother who is raising strong daughters.
SOWING SEEDS FOR OUR DAUGHTERS
We are living in an unprecedented time, where the flow of information is at the tip of EVERYONE’S fingers. Anyone and everyone can send a message to whoever they want–whenever they want, and the world often likes to “sow” the wrong kinds of seeds in “mental” messages to our young daughters. Raising strong daughters means we, as mothers, know ourselves and can “see” the path ahead that they can not. But can we do that if we, as mothers, cannot see our own path?
DAUGHTER, KNOW THYSELF
The world is constantly sending out messaging to our daughters through social media, text messages, the news, and the “words” of others they encounter on this journey called life. These messages are blessings and cursings, and the ability to to sow these types of seeds in the minds of our young daughters is powerful. And so, as a mother, rather than just sowing positive “seeds of thought” for my daughters, I want to raise daughters WHO KNOW THEMSELVES, because women who know themselves, can not only plant positive seeds for others, but also “sift” out the negative seeds “sown” by the enemy who seeks to destroy their fragile “identity.” So, to my daughters I say, “Daughter, know thyself!” (Genesis 1:27).
CALLED BY MANY NAMES
As a woman, I have spent a lot of time “sifting” through the world’s “titles” and “definitions” to discover who I truly am. The world likes to call women by many “names,” They like to define who we are, what we should like, and most importantly, what we should think like. Rather than adopt someone else’s label of who they think I should be, or who they think my daughters should be, I want to raise daughters who KNOW themselves, and know the name by which they are called. (Isaiah 43:7) I want to raise daughters who stand on moral high ground, BECAUSE that is the path least traveled–knowing that the journey will be difficult, but that the lesson will be priceless. And also knowing that at the end of that journey, THAT NAME, is where limitless riches are found. The world doesn’t want our daughters to take on that name, because that name gives them an identity–and it’s the identity that is powerful.
THE JOURNEY IS THE STORY
Our identity is discovered in the journey we take. I spend a lot of time putting my thoughts out on “paper” in the form of the “typed word.” When my daughters look back at the words I have written, there will always be a moral to our life’s journey–because God weaves the tapestry, not us, and in THAT understanding, we know that we will always have purpose.
In my writings, I want to warn them about the journey ahead, not because I want them to be afraid, but because I want them to be prepared. I want them to experience hardships, not because I want them to suffer, but because I want them to learn how to make something beautiful out of the pain. I want them to be able to make wise choices in the process, because they have also made mistakes and learned from them. I want them to learn forgiveness while also being willing to give mercy, because God’s grace is also freely given to them. I want them to learn sacrifice, so that they can also learn the value in justice and why it exists. I want them to know that the world is beautiful, JUST BECAUSE they exist.
TAKING DOWN THE EVIL QUEEN
Beauty, for me anyway, has always come after I have had my own personal wrestle with the darkness–and that darkness looks just like me on a bad day! Bad days are okay, just don’t let them get the best of you. We all have an evil queen! That’s right–and she can get ugly when she’s left unchecked. You’ve got to check the evil queen, or you will become her, permanently. Being a mother of strong daughters is less about occasionally being the evil queen, and more about discovering who she is so that you can rid yourself of her when she tries to come out!
CHANNELING OUR INNER CHILD
To take down my own evil queen, I personally like to channel the “inner child within” in the process. Sometimes that inner child goes by the name “Alora,” the tiny witch who’s out to have a good time as long as the evil queen doesn’t get the best of her, and sometimes she goes by “Pumpkin Spice,” making pie simply because she likes to eat it, but needing a boost of confidence from her friends so that she can finally share that gift with others. I want to pass along that same “confidence” to my daughters, by showing them my “inner” light! You have to put yourself out there first! Your daughters need to see you do it!
MY OWN TEAM OF CHEERLEADERS
My girls love this stuff, and they gain confidence right along with me as I tackle another project on my journey. They get so excited EVERY TIME I finish a page in one of my books, because my books are really their books. They are my biggest cheerleaders, because when I write about my life lessons, I am also writing to them– and we are on the same journey together. There is always moral to be learned, and we sure are having fun reading the colorful pages of our own story!
THERE’S ALWAYS A MORAL TO THE STORY
In my children’s Halloween book series, there is always a moral to the story. I wrote these books for myself AND for my daughters–they are my own life lessons unfolding on the pages of a children’s book, and they contain a message that I have learned that I want my daughter’s to know. In every book, the main character has something she must overcome, but really overcoming is truly about discovering “ones true self,” buried deep down in the darkness within. Because if I can find myself buried deep down inside, so can they!
DISCOVERING THE LIGHT WITHIN
Overcoming the darkness is really just about discovering our own light within. As a mom, who is simply trying to raise strong daughters in a world that is creating all the wrong things instead of the right, I want to raise daughters who can “imagine” what goodness looks like and become it–because goodness CAN exist in the darkness. In fact, it already does exist–it just must be discovered.
LIKE A BOLT OF LIGHTNING AGAINST A NIGHT SKY
Honestly, sometimes it takes a little creativity to “imagine” goodness in a world that can be so dark, but we can not teach what we have not become! It may even require us to channel our own inner child to find it, but when we do find it, it will appear as though a great, bolt of lighting is flashing against a night sky. As mothers, when we walk out of the darkness, with confidence, we can then say to our own children, “Daughter, know thyself–the light already exists within you,” because, we ourselves, appear as the light.
