“The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice.”

I heard this quote a couple of weeks back and have not been able to get it out of my head. It’s so unbelievably powerful and just so incredibly true.

I am my child's inner voice. - The Overwhelmed Mommy Blogger

Of course our kids need to know authority. They need to know that they must honor and respect their parents and any adult, for that matter. They need to understand that they are kids and they are learning and they don’t have all the knowledge or experience that we, as adults, have. That is all so true but I believe there is one way to go about it one way to not and treating our kids with the respect we request and expect of them is the best way to raise them right.

Think about it —

When someone tells themselves over and over that they aren’t pretty or aren’t smart or aren’t good enough, they start to believe it. And when bullies tell another child that they aren’t good enough, no matter how strong that child is, over time it’ll wear them down and over time they, too, will begin to believe of themselves what they are being told.

And that’s exactly how our kids learn and grow and develop. Our kids begin to learn who they are based on their experiences — some of those experiences being what they are told by us, as their parents.

So I truly believe that speaking to our kids “as if they are the wisest, kindest, most beautiful and magical humans on earth” is the best way to raise our kids, no matter what their strengths are and no matter what their weaknesses are, “for what they believe is what they will become.” – Brooke Hampton

Tell your kids how beautiful they are every single day. Tell your kids how smart they are, no matter how hard they are struggling in school. Tell your kids how great they are at every single strength they have and lift them up even through their weaknesses. Tell your kids how special they are, how responsible they are, how great of a leader they are, how they are so courageous and caring and creative and compassionate and patient and honest and kind.

For the words we speak to our kids are what they will begin to believe about themselves and these words are what they will become.