This is my youngest brat. My only daughter. Of course, my oldest is my only son but... You know what I mean. She's only two but I'm already wondering who it is she will look up to as she gets older. I want her to have strong female influences as well as male. FGor this post I'm gonna focus on the female side.
I work at a bookstore and have read TWILIGHT. Bella, the leading lady, is sort of the OPPOSITE of what I'm lookin' for for Claudia. Now there is another series of books by Rosemary Clement-Moore whose lead, Maggie O'Quinn, is a good fit. She's quirky and independent. A little insecure and way sarcastic. She is sort of what I see my little 'angel' becoming. Maybe without the psychic visions and such but still.
I'm also fortunate to have a good base of girl friends. I have friends are stay-at-home moms who home school, friends that are students, friends that work in just about every imaginable field: artists, zoo keepers, teachers, nurses, cashiers, managers, administrative assistants, small business owners, race car drivers, writers, photographers, actors, directors, professors, costumers, etc. I have friends who are Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Atheist. I have friends who are soft-spoken and those that don't let you get a word in edge-wise. Maybe she'll latch on to one of them as a role model.
Then there's my mom. She's MY role model. She works, has been married for 40 years to the same man, raised five kids... None of whom have done any prison time to my knowledge... She speaks her mind but knows when to keep her cool. She is my 'go to' person for EVERYTHING. Claudia could do worse than her grandma as a role model.
Truthfully there aren't a lot of celebrities that I would like her to obsess over and want to emulate. Katie Couric maybe, she seems harmless enough. I think Neicey Nash seems pretty cool too. Katherine Hepburn's not a bad choice but unless Claudia gets scripted by the writers for Gilmore Girls I don't see that happening. Of course there's always Eleanor Roosevelt, Sacagewea, Mother Theresa (She's always a big hit with the kids). I'm not really into sports so I don't know a lot about female athletes... There are the likes of Diane Arbus, Annie Leibowitz, Frida Kahlo but I think they'd be better looked at for their art and not necessarily their personal lives.
I'm fairly certain that there will come a time when she's not gonna care what I think are good choices for her but I will try to get into that little head of hers as much as I can now. I may have some luck. My five-year-old son has informed me that he's 'a big fan of Lincoln's. Oh, and Barrack Obama'. Neither of those are bad choices. He could idolize Darth Vader or something.
I guess for now I'll just be happy that she is a big fan of Yo Gabba Gabba and ICarly and KNOWS that, no matter what anyone says, she can do whatever the big kids can do.
