Be Awesome! Part 2

Earlier this month, I wrote how I had begun to ask my daughters two questions: How were you awesome today? How were you awesome to someone else? (Be Awesome!)

These questions have helped us to start conversations each day after school.  I admit that I had become quite  a lazy dad when it came to asking my daughters how their day had been.  I had taken to just listening to them tell their grandparents about it.  By telling the girls I would be asking them the questions daily, I knew it would hold me accountable to have those conversations.

They have really taken to the questions.  They get excited about answering them, and they really enjoy telling me how they have helped someone else.  Many times, they want to answer that one first!

Since writing the last post, a couple of wrinkles have occurred.  The first is the addition of a third question.  I noticed a couple times where my youngest wanted to tell me how she WASN'T awesome.  At first, I wouldn't allow it.  I thought it was important to think about the good things and how good they could be.

Then, I began to rethink things.  I thought this would be a great opportunity for the girls to learn another aspect of self reflection.  No matter how well they had done, they could always do better.  So, I began to ask them how they could have been MORE awesome.  I thought they wouldn't like this new question, but they really took to it.  It was like they wanted an opportunity to confess.

The second twist was a tough one for me.  My youngest started asking me the questions!  It took everything in me not to play the parent card and refuse to answer the questions.  Like I wrote in the last post, I am learning more every day I must lead by example.  So I gulped and answered the questions.

I want to raise my children to be open, honest and vulnerable.  I am doing so by showing them what those traits look like.  Too many dads hide their feelings and especially their failures from their kids.  I fail, and it's ok.  And it's ok for them to know it.  How else will they learn to learn from their failures?