OUR CHILDREN'S RIGHT TO AUTONOMY
Throughout the parenting journey, you are stopped in your tracks by a flood of memories. Today is one of those days for me. This is the day my beautiful (eighteen-year-old) girl has been waiting for since she was four years old—when she gets her first tattoo.
Many people will balk at the idea that my husband and I fully support her getting a tattoo. But frankly, we don't care. We will be there cheering her on as she continues to express herself fully, knowing that she has autonomy over her own body.
I know that this can be a hard pill to swallow for some. In our family, we have always supported our daughter in expressing herself. This doesn't mean that we didn't put boundaries in place; it just means we provided guidance instead of obedience.
From her year of only wearing dresses to her summer of tank tops, she has always had her sense of who she is and what makes her feel powerful. She has always shown the world who she is without needing anyone's permission or approval, whether it was wearing a princess dress and plastic high heels to the grocery store or her favorite cowboy boots in the sweltering heat of summer.
We certainly are not perfect parents. Those do not exist. We have made our share of mistakes and missteps in our parenting journey. I know that what we have done without fail is to honor our daughter for who she is.
