SPRINKLES

I took Cooper to the park today.  It was beautiful out, the kind of day we've been waiting for.  The park was full to the brim with parents and children.  There was one little blue swing empty, Cooper and I grabbed it and he swung and swung.  I kept telling him, "Mama loves you! Mama loves you!" He was laughing and I could feel it in the innermost parts of me, he loves me too.  There was a lady and her two sons right next to us; one a baby, she said he was seven months old, and the other a two and a half year old.  The oldest was ready to leave the park but the baby was not, the mom was pulling out all of her tricks, trying to keep both of her babies happy.  She finally suggested ice cream as long as they could stay at the park for fifteen more minutes, and the oldest boy seemed pleased.  He told her he wanted Bruster's, not McDonalds, and the mom called him high-maintenence with a laugh.  She asked him what kind of ice cream he was going to get but before he could answer she said she was going to get chocolate with sprinkles.  I was watching them and listening more than it was my business too.  The little boy quickly answered back, "I want chocolate with sprinkles too!"  The mom quickly shot back, "sprinkles? haha sprinkles? baby you can't get sprinkles, sprinkles are for girls!"

It hurt to hear her say that.  Her son didn't respond with anything except, "oh."

We have so many responsibilities as parents.  One of the most important ones to me is to raise Cooper into a good and decent human being.  I don't know what ensures that Cooper won't become a bully, I struggles with this.  The answer I've come up with for now is ME.  I need to re-evaluate how I act, how I think, and what I say.  I am Coopers biggest role-model.  It is not my place to talk poorly of others, to judge, or to gender-stereotype, it is my job to practice kindness and to pass that onto Cooper.  I want him to think it is normal to stick his last few dollars into charity jars.  I want him to have fat friends and skinny friends, friends with freckles and friends without, friends who play soccer and friends who play checkers, friends who listen to country music and friends who don't like music at all.  I want Cooper to be popular because he is friends with everyone, not because he is apart of the cool crowd.  If Cooper wants to play with baby dolls I will let him, if he wants to wear pink pants... I'll wear matching ones, if he wants to dig holes in the dirt all day, let's do it.  If he wants to eat sprinkles on his ice cream, I'm raising him right!

We need to change the way we are.  We need to make a push for better.  We need to stop hurting and start loving more.  We need to quit judging and start accepting.  We are all different, we are all imperfect, we are all perfect in His eyes, we are all created equally and deserve to be treated as such.  This world is so hard, let's make it easier for each other.  Our babies are the future, let's change it!

I can say with absolutely certainty that what I want most out of life is not to become a lawyer anymore (although I will still become one!), it is for Cooper to have the best life and for him to be the best person he can be.