In my previous post, I talked about the emotional abuse my children are going through.

I constantly fear that they will carry these scars with them. But I don’t think I have ever been more proud of my daughter than I was yesterday.

I got out of work two hours early, so I called my daughter to tell her that after her homework, we could go to the playground. She was so excited. I told her to get her school books ready and she said “Mom, I am playing right now and I REAAALLY want to finish this.”

I asked her what she was playing. She told me she was pretending to be a counselor. She’d gone to summer camp and the older kids volunteer as camp counselors. I figured that was what she meant.

So I asked, “What kind of counselor? Are you starting a camp?”

She said, “no Mommy, I am being a counselor who talks to people. That’s what I want to do when I grow up. I want to talk to kids like me so I can help them.”

It brought tears to my eyes. It made me sad that she acknowledges the scars she is going to carry but it also made me so proud that, instead of feeling sorry for herself, she wants to use her experiences to help others. At six years old, she is already thinking about how to help others instead of dwelling on her own problems.

Most kids her age play house, doctor, and teacher. She is thinking about how she can use the small amount of experiences she has had in her short life to help other people.

I am so proud of her. At age six, she is such a smart, kind, and compassionate person and I truly believe she WILL help many people in her lifetime. I am so thankful that she is learning how to help people rather that assume that abuse is okay.

I have always loved the song In My Daughter’s Eyes, but yesterday I could hear the lyrics over and over again in my head: “I see who I want to be in my daughter’s eyes.”

I only wish I could be as strong, caring and compassionate as she is.