On Saturdays Ten has ballet class for an hour.

On Sundays she has 2.5 hours of Hip Hop and on Wednesdays she has another 2.5 hours of Jazz, Lyrical and Acro.

The math on that is 6 hours of dance a week.

I know. It is a lot.

This year, we felt that both our kids were old enough to make a choice (and the commitment) about how and where they wanted to spend their extracurricular time and efforts.

This is where she wants to be.

Her other close friends are in Guides and playing indoor soccer and we gave her these options as well, but she was adamant about what she wanted to do this year and how focused she wanted to be in this one area.

Having a child who is this confident and sure of herself and what she wants to do is weird for me. I was never that kid. I mean, jeezus, most days I am not that woman.

This morning on the drive to the dance studio, I asked her to tell me what makes her feel proud of herself.

Without skipping a beat she said, “My hair.”

When I asked for more details, she explained that she is proud that she has short hair, “because all the other girls have long hair. I like being different.”

Read that again.

I LIKE BEING DIFFERENT.

Can you imagine saying that when you were a ten-year-old?

Having the self-assurance and knowledge that different is GOOD.

Think of the world these kids are going to shape with that kind of conviction.

I worry about plenty of things as a parent, but raising these babies of mine to love being different and unique and to do the things that they want to do (and not what all their friends are doing), makes me believe that maybe, just maybe, we aren’t completely messing them up!

Also, I am pretty sure these next few years are gonna be all kinds of payback for my own tween/teen years. Just look at this level of sass and spirit!

Goddess help me!

N~

Ten knows I am writing every day this month for #nablopomo and #netpositiveblog and when I asked her what I should write today, she said, “Write about Me!”. Careful what you wish for my girl.

So let me ask you the same question I asked her:

What about you makes you feel proud of yourself? Share your answers in the comments.