This post comes from my nine year old daughter, Cami. She is itching to have her own blog. Until then, I promised her a guest post here. Cami is a fourth grader and a fantastic sister. She loves reading and writing and just finished her debut on the stage with The Toledo Repertoire Theatre in A Christmas Carol.

As you might guess, she is one of my very favorite people on earth. This essay she wrote in school fits the theme of this blog and is also a great reminder for all of us. I typed this exactly as she wrote it, except that WordPress doesn’t draw Q like a cat face for Ramona Quimby. The only thing I added was paragraph breaks. I would be thrilled if you took a moment to leave her an encouraging comment. Thanks!

People should believe in themselves. If Beverly Cleary was afraid to show her books to people, no one could read about Ramona Quimby or Henry Huggins! If George Washington didn’t believe he could be president, then what?

You should encourage someone to believe in themself today.

Is someone you know afraid to do something? Tell them that they can do it. Say that if normal people can become famous authors (or actors or presidents), they can too.

Tomorrow, try to do the same thing. And the next day. And the next day. And the next day.

Try to do it for as long as you can. Encourage other people to encourage other people to encourage other people….. You can help encourage the world!

I know I will encourage other people. Will you?

photo credit Kiran Foster