By Emma Heaphy
This is how I want you to grow up.
In a happy home, a loving home, a safe home.
Smiling when you’re happy, crying when you’re sad and yelling when you’re mad.
I want you to be able to feel emotion, understand emotion and express emotion.
This is how I want you to grow up.
Learning through mess, learning through play and learning through challenges.
Having dirt through your fingers, grass stains on your pants and leaving muddy footprints at the door.
I want you to understand our planet, gain knowledge through experience and be brave enough to explore.
This is how I want you to grow up.
Having good role models, all with various backgrounds and from all walks of life.
Teaching you kindness, teaching you resilience, teaching you empathy.
I want you to learn important lessons, to be open minded and to appreciate your elders.
This is how I want you to grow up.
Wearing blue pants, playing with trucks and going out on the farm with your dad.
Understanding you are powerful, knowing there are no limits and that you do not need to fit into any box.
I want you to learn that a colour does not define you, that you seek out the path that makes you happy, that women can do anything.
