Y'know what really grinds my gears?

I hate when parents call their children "Mini Me." It's one of those things that drives me bananas!

Does my child look like me? Share the same mannerisms? Like the same things? Try to do what I do?

Yes.

Well, I assume she will. Right now she's one. She likes to eat, nap, play and scare the heck outta me with her lack of fear.

I have friends who call the kids the minis. I'm ok with that, but I take issue with mini me.

It takes away from the fact that my child is an individual. Yessir, she may look and act like me and want to be like me, but she's still her own person.

She will have her own passions, likes, dislikes, dreams, desires, quirks. She's an amazing person in her own right.

Why would I want to diminish that by implying she's "just like me!" Are we really that desperate for approval in our own lives that we need the validation to come from our own children?

I want her to know I'm proud of her, of course. And I want her to know that I like myself, because I think that's super important. But I don't want her to think for a moment that validation needs to come from others, or that's she's responsible for the happiness of others.

I want her to be her own unique, quirky self.

Whoever that turns out to be.