Originally published November 11, 2021 on The Mom Inspirer. This piece has been lightly edited for clarity and republished here.
As parents, we often think of ourselves as the ones responsible for giving our children what they need.
We feed them. Teach them. Encourage them. Protect them. Help them make sense of the world.
But every now and then, something happens that reminds us that the exchange is not always one-way.
Sometimes our children give something back to us that we didn’t even realize we needed.
One day, my children—who were both attending an in-home preschool at the time—started repeating a series of affirmations.
“I have purpose.”
“I am a good person.”
“My life has meaning.”
They said each phrase twice.
I stopped and asked what they were doing. They explained that their teacher had them recite morning affirmations every day.
So I asked them to say them again.
They stumbled through a few parts, but I could tell the words were becoming familiar to them.
And as I listened, tears came to my eyes.
At 41 years old, I still needed to hear some of those same things.
I needed to be reminded that I had purpose.
That my life had meaning.
That I was still becoming.
At the time, I was struggling with a lot of questions about who I was and what direction my life was taking. Motherhood and marriage had changed me. I no longer felt drawn to the work I had done for years, but I wasn’t sure what came next.
I wanted work that felt meaningful.
I wanted flexibility.
I wanted to contribute financially.
I wanted to feel like myself again.
Mostly, I was trying to understand who I was becoming.
And then there were my children, standing in front of me, repeating words they had learned at preschool:
I have purpose.
My life has meaning.
I am here for a reason.
I welcome change.
Challenges help me grow.
I am worthy of love.
I can make my life what I want it to be.
Their teacher had given them affirmations.
But somehow, that morning, those words became mine too.
I remember feeling humbled by it.
As parents, we expect to be the ones doing the teaching. But sometimes our children reflect something back to us that we have forgotten.
Sometimes they remind us to believe again.
To keep going.
To trust that change does not mean we are lost.
And sometimes, the young really do lead us.
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