Our family has been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Disney's new film Planes in theaters. Since the very first preview, we have been counting down. We love both Cars and Cars 2, and have already marked August 9th on our calendars for this release.
We have watched every trailer available. We feel we already know and love so many of the characters, especially Dusty, the films main character, a crop-dusting plane who has big dreams to become more than he is. He decides to follow his big dreams, enter a rally and race against the world's greatest flying machines.
Dusty has a team of colorful and endearing characters, who each in their own individual way support and help Dusty try to reach his dreams.
Dusty's journey to his goal reminds me of the big dreams and hopes my own children have.
My own little "Dusty's" have or will have big, sometimes unattainable dreams.
How am I a part of their team? How do I support and help them reach their goal and have courage to do so?
Basically, what is my parenting style?
In the film, each member of Dusty's Team has a different way of encouraging him. They each bring different traits and styles. I found my own parenting style sprinkled in little traits of each character. However, I found I related the most to Dottie.
Dottie is a little too practical and is very much a realist. She worries over the grandness and the seemingly unreachable nature of Dusty's dreams. She doesn't so much worry about the dream itself, but the danger of the dream for Dusty. Ultimately, though, whatever he decides Dottie will fiercely support him and help get him to where he wants to be.
While I do not possess her tough-love mentality (here I am little more like Chug with my softie heart), even in the face of impractical, unreachable, and even dangerous dreams, I, like Dottie, will back my own little crop-dusters.
When it comes down to it, I would rather them have big unattainable dreams than no dreams at all. I daily will encourage them to Reach For Their Dreams and Have Courage. I find myself doing this by facing life with joy, some seriousness, a lot of laughter, and a bit of biting my tongue.
When their vocalized goals seem impractical, I make sure I don't put out their fire with a ready response such as, "That pencil stand made from folded printer paper is nice, but let's not sell it door-to-door in the neighborhood." Instead I try to let them follow through with their idea. Even if that means there might be danger in their feelings getting hurt or no one buying their very "fancy" paper holder. Who knows, they might just be the inventors of the next must-have ergonomic desk accessory.
I want them to be smart about their goals and encourage them to think them through. However, I work really hard to not dash the dream or the dreamer.
All it takes is courage, both for the dreamer and the Momma.
The dreamer just needs the courage to reach, to try, to fail, to succeed, to dream. As parents, I feel we can help our dreamer by tapping into who we are and using our strengths to support them. Just like Dusty had a team full of supporters with different styles encouraging him, our dreamers can be encouraged by different styles, too.
The Momma and Dad just need the courage to let our dreamers FLY while trying not to worry too much about the heights or possible crashes.
Again, dreaming a big dream is better than no dream.
Let them fly.
Now for the Reach Your Dreams and Have Courage Sweepstakes!
To enter for a chance to win a $100 Fandango.com gift card all you need to do is leave a comment by answering the question--
Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the
following unique term in your tweet message: ""#SweepstakesEntry""; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post"
c) Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 7/15 - 8/12.
Be sure to visit the Disney Planes page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win!
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