Thankful for a good daughter!

 

With Thanksgiving coming we naturally reflect on those things we are most thankful for in our lives. On that note... one of N's teachers this year gave the parents a homework assignment. She wanted to get to know her students quickly and wanted help from the people that know them best. The assignment was titled “In a million words or less...” (And this has inspired me to do the same for each of my children - so those will be coming soon!) Here's what I turned in:

I’ve been thinking about this assignment since Na handed it to me that first week of school. I wondered how I could describe my daughter adequately. I decided to brainstorm a little in order to come up with some words that might help paint a picture of her. I know I can use a million words, but if I had to choose only one word it would be “good”. She is simply, good. Now I will expand on that. Here are some of the other words that came to mind in describing her (and in no particular order): responsible, organized, quiet, obedient, helpful, honorable, moral, musical, creative, funny, witty, respectful, sensitive, thoughtful, conscientious, daughter, sister, friend, beautiful – inside and out….
Ever since she was a little girl she did things at her own speed. We used to laugh when we would ask her to hurry and she would say “okay”. Then she would go the same speed as before. She was also very aware of doing her best in just about everything she tried. She is still that way – very careful. She is a great daughter and older sister. She is our oldest daughter. She has an older brother, D, who is in 8th grade, and 4 younger siblings – 1 brother and 3 sisters. She has stepped up to the challenges that come naturally with the role of older sister. She enjoys and is good at babysitting her younger siblings. I can depend on her to do what she is asked and without complaining. She often notices things that need to be done around the house and then will do them without being asked. She has been known to clean the whole kitchen just because it needed to be done. And she’ll clean the bathroom any time I ask her. She says she likes it. I really enjoy that quality in her! She’s a wonderful helper and enjoys being part of a team, whatever that might be – around the house with chores or on the soccer field.
Na has a great sense of what is right and good. She is our child that we trust with the TV remote. I will explain. We try to change the channel when inappropriate commercials pop up in the middle of a show we are watching as a family. Sometimes when her dad and I need to leave the room, we hand the remote to Na. She seems to know when to change the channel way before anyone else notices anything wrong.
She enjoys music. She took piano lessons for a couple of years. She started the viola in 5th grade through the elementary school. She used to enjoy singing when she was little, and she has a nice voice. Unfortunately she has become too self-conscious about it. Now she only sings in groups or in her own room (or shower :).
She is creative. She loves to write and uses words very well to express herself. I loved it when she got to the age when she started to get my jokes. Not too long after that she started coming up with her own. She likes drawing stick figures. It amazes me the detail that she can get into a stick figure’s expressions and movements. She will create whole scenes using these simple drawings. It fascinates me.
We learned early on that the way to correct or discipline Na was vastly different than what we did with her older brother. When D misbehaved, the consequences needed to be pretty strict in order to help him change his behavior. With Na, all we had to do was to look at her sternly and she would start to cry. She is still very sensitive to correction – maybe it’s because she is already trying so hard to be good and do what is right. She is good at obeying. She listens and tries to improve. Because of her we learned right away that we couldn’t rely on past experience in raising children. They are all so different. And on that note, we have sure loved having her as a daughter and getting to know her. I hope this will be helpful as you are getting to know her over the course of this year.
P.S. Thanks for this assignment. It has been fun and challenging to try to put into words what I think of my daughter. It makes me want to do this assignment for the rest of my children, just for fun. Not only has it made me stop and think hard about who she is, but it has made me appreciate her more and recognize all that she contributes to our family. She is a good one!!