by Shira Williams

“Don’t forget to Love Our Daughters” is a piece that I have been working on for some time.
The poem itself was sparked from a conversation that I was having with my husband one day. I was explaining to him that while I was growing up, a lot of things were not the norm. One thing in particular was being dark-skinned. I explained to him that if it was not for the foundation that my late Grandfather set with telling me how beautiful I was and that black was beautiful, then I could have been a statistic of low self-esteem. My grandfather showed me at an early age to love myself and my color, so when I would get picked on because of my color, it didn’t bother me because I would repeat the very words he instilled in me”....”Black is Beautiful!”

So, from that very story”....”Don’t Forget to Love Our Daughters” was created. Enjoy!

Don’t Forget to Love Our Daughters
Be the first man who captures her heart
Tell her she is beautiful both inside and out
Hugs and Kisses are sure to make her feel loved
Expectations like these she will grow to cherish and adore
Holding her doors and pulling her chairs out begins with you
Set the tone from the start so these things won’t be anything new
Showing her how she should be treated early is only the beginning

Creating a confident girl will turn her into a confident woman
Let her know that loving herself first is the greatest foundation
So that she won’t need to seek it from others as some form of validation
Teach her that she deserves to be treated with the utmost respect

And if she encounters someone who doesn’t, she’ll walk away without regret
She won’t feel the need to stay in something where she is not truly loved
Because she’ll remember all that was instilled in her and her choices in life won’t seem so tough
So don’t forget to love our Daughters and plant the seed of love
Because her first idea of Love was created by you and sets the bar highly above

Shira Williams blogs at Lovebug’s World.