Thanks to Milk Life for sponsoring this post.
When I was 15 years old you would probably find me babysitting the kids next door sans makeup, hair in a ponytail, wearing overalls. Actually … that ensemble sort of sounds like something a super-chic off-duty model would wear these days, but I assure you, my overalled duds were definitely not of the stylish variety. My personal aesthetic was nowhere near as developed as Citizen Kid Cecilia, a 15-year-old fashion designer:
Cecilia’s drive and motivation is beyond inspiring. She started cutting up and “repurposing” her clothes at the age of four. By six she got her first sewing machine and has been off and running (or sewing) ever since. At the age of 10, her mom took her clothes to a local boutique, and they were so impressed they launched her first collection in a trunk show in their shop. She has designed dresses for celebrities (Miley Cyrus was the first to request a design!) and has been asked to show at Thailand’s Fashion Week. Such amazing accomplishments for such a young girl.
There were plenty of people who told Cecilia that she was too young to be a fashion designer and that she couldn’t do it. But she proved them wrong, with the support and encouragement of her mom along the way. And not only has Cecilia become a fashion designer, but she’s also chosen to give back to others by starting an organization called “Follow Your Dreams” to spend time with young girl and encourage them to set their sights high and reach for their goals.
When I was a kid, I loved to sing and had a bit of a flair for the dramatic. I adored listening to show tunes and belting my heart out to songs from the musical Annie. I told my parents that I wanted to go to New York and sing on Broadway one day, and they were always so supportive. Despite the fact that my voice, while “pretty good”, wasn’t really Broadway caliber and the fact that my parents surely knew that the life of a Broadway performer wasn’t an easy one (and definitely not a particularly likely one), they never stifled me. They always told me I could be anything I wanted. They encouraged me to join choir, take voice lessons, try out for solos. In the end I realized that Broadway wasn’t going to be my thing (hello, terrible stage fright!), but I always appreciated that my parents never told me it was impossible. Even now as an adult, they push me to pursue new challenges and are so great at modeling what encouraging parents look like.
Now that I am a mom, the idea of having a child so motivated and driven seems both amazing and, honestly, a little bit scary. What if they fail? Will it crush them? How would that affect their self-esteem? What if my daughter decides to follow her love of singing? Do I tell her how unlikely it would be for her to be truly successful? Do I tell her how hard the path would be? Or how it most likely wouldn’t really pay the bills? What if she performs in front of an audience and forgets the words to a song, or gets laughed at?
But, perhaps the most worrisome question of all: what if they succeed? What does it look like to parent a child that achieves that kind of success at such an early age? How would I parent a child that was more successful than I was at that age? How does one encourage a child who has so much drive and ambition? How would I encourage, while still helping to bridle that passion?
While I don’t have the answers to any of these questions, I hope that I will be a mom like Cecilia’s who encourages my children to find their passions and chase their dreams. Having a child so young do something so extraordinary might seem unlikely, but if your child has a dream, do your very best to help them pursue it. Encourage your child to be a go-getter and teach them that to accomplish great things, they have to put in hard work and a lot of heart. Who knows? You might just have the next great world-changer on your hands.
Milk helps power the potential of ordinary kids to do extraordinary things. Share your videos or stories of your #CitizenKid and you could be featured here.