Dear daughters: Be anything but afraid

Queen.

This is not a label we parents have given to her, but one of many she's picked up for herself as part of the pretend world she's creating, the way a 2-year-old should.

Better a queen than a princess, I thought to myself. She might as well pretend to be the one in charge. And just as I completed the thought, the little queen came flying out of her room, transformed now into a big, scary, growling monster, proving that in the mind of a toddler, you can be anything. The very same day she was also a tiger, a bear, a guitar player, a dancer, a cook and "funny." I know, because she told us. And then she laughed and laughed.

As for me, well, it's starting to sink in that I am now the mother of two girls. It's a responsibility that feels a bit heavy and significant these days as I watch the news and am reminded what being a girl in this world can mean. I listen to my daughter who is just learning language, point to her dad and declare him a boy and then to me, a girl. Her sister? A baby.

She's learning the difference already, if only by length of hair and lack of whiskers, and it reminds me of the time in my life when I was convinced femininity wasn't something to be proud of.

I suppose I was staring puberty in the face and knew enough from watching my older sister to decide that I didn't want the burden and fussiness that came with that sort of transition. The bras, the boys, the maintenance of pretty — it was scary and unfamiliar territory I wasn't ready to navigate.

I was convinced that it would all be easier if I had been born a boy, for those reasons and because I thought that it would make me fit better out here at the ranch, that I would have more muscle to open the gates, or that somehow being a boy would make me braver or more capable, more trusted with things I wanted to be a part of, like horses and chores.

I didn't want to face the pressure of the "girl" stuff. And so I worked harder to show those muscles, so much so that there were times I faked interest in things I had no real interest in and probably missed out on things I would have liked to be a part of.

Eventually I came into my own — that's part of the process — but, darling girls, I don't want you to be afraid, like I was, of growing up. I don't want you to be afraid of being a girl.

No.

Because girl or boy, you're in charge of your identity and your body. You have the power to create you. So today you might be a queen, but tomorrow you can be anything.

Jessie Veeder is a musician and writer living with her husband and daughter on a ranch near Watford City, N.D. She blogs at https://veederranch.com. Readers can reach her at jessieveeder@gmail.com.