by
Black Girl With Long Hair
This is G-parent status right here… When your little one skips over the Elsa’s and Minnie Mouse’s and Princess Tiana’s to dress up as you. Viola Davis took to Facebook yesterday to share that her daughter, Genesis, requested to dress up as her for Halloween. The 4-year-old beauty channeled her mother’s iconic Emmy win for best actress in a drama series, complete with a mini-Emmy. Davis captioned the photo;
So…..the Elsa costume? Didn’t work for her. The Pirate? A no go. So she finally said,” I just want to be YOU mommy”! So… uhh…..this is ME.
Here’s a picture for comparison…
Love it.
16 Responses
love this, love this so much
This is too cute for words
tears, so touching, so deeply, sweetly affirming and loving!
Wow, this is awesome!
I couldn’t think of a better example for her to be….
awwwwwwwwwwwww Her daughter is absolutely beautiful.
She is so adorable and I love her Viola Davis . She is a natural icon and she inspired me to go natural. I have been natural for 2 years. I love her .
This is how it’s suppose to be. A few months back. I heard middle school students chatting about who were their role models etc. One asked the other isn’t Beyonce queen? And the little girl said, “Beyonce is talented but I don’t know her personally to say she is my role model. My mom is my hero and my role model, I look up to her.” Her friends had the look of shock all over their faces trying to convince her that Beyonce is life. Smh. Rarely do I hear teens speak this way. Like many adults, they’re normally obsessed with Celebrities or anyone that is popular and or rich. I had the biggest smile on my face.
Beyonce’s awesome (I’ve actually met her in person and can attest that she’s very nice!!)
But my mom? Mom will always reign supreme.
I am not denying that and quite frankly it isn’t my concern whether or not beyonce is nice. They could have been talking about anyone else. The point is that people should not idolize other people and or things. That little girl was very smart. While all her friends were star struck, wishing they had what Beyonce had or wishing to look and be her, this little girl gave Beyonce credit for her talents and kept it moving. If more children and adults had that mind set, then a lot more people would be more focused on bettering themselves, embracing themselves, loving themselves vs worrying about what everyone else is doing while trying to be like the next person.
….no one said it was your concern? Also, I’m agreeing with you so I’m very confused as to why you’re jumping down my throat as though I’ve severely offended you with my comment.
At the end of the day, what’s important is recognizing your own worth and utilizing the knowledge given by great people who came before (ie: relatives, teachers, other impactful adults), but to sit here and look down your nose at little girls who want to be Beyonce is condescending and honestly unrealistic.
They’re kids. Beyonce’s popular and successful and doing something with her life. They want to be like her. Let them dream. Let them be kids. I’m glad that one girl stood up and was proud of her mom, but that doesn’t make the other girls idiots (as you seem to be portraying them) for having a different view point or looking towards something else. I mean…do you even know the homelife of these girls? Not everyone is blessed with a wonderful, loving mother. Not everyone has a support system to find inspiration in. Some people “shallowly” look to celebrities for inspiration because they offer a better picture than what’s possibly going on at home.
Like, I get your main point, but until you can actually know the motivations behind someone’s “celebrity worship”, can you really say it’s as empty and shallow as you think it is?
Wow.. OK. I’m a little confused as to why you thought I was jumping down your throat? That was not my intent. And why do you think I was offended? You said nothing that was offensive. Looking down on little girls that look up to celebrities? I may not like it but why would I look down on innocent children when most of the times, they only mimic what they see? I’m sorry that you took my response the way that you did. I just simply replied to your post and wanted to stress that whether or not the celebrity was nice isn’t of importance in this context, since I was trying to bring across a point which wasn’t about Beyonce. It was just about idolizing people in general. They were also praising the Kardashians, Niki Minaj and a few others. And there were little boys idolizing some male rappers, I forgot their names where the rapper was singing about drug rape etc.
And yes you bring up very good points that I am aware of but unfortunately, many of these children grow into adulthood with this same mindset. That is my issue. Which is why articles like these send a great message. Especially because a lot of the lyrics and lifestyles of these celebrities can influence children negative ways.
Also, you stated, “Some people “shallowly” look to celebrities for inspiration because they offer a better picture than what’s possibly going on at home.” I totally understand that. But we have to be realistic about the insane amount of glorification that some of these celebrities and or social media icons receive when there are other members and past members from our societies that children may be familiar with such as; Martin Luther King, Michelle Obama, Oprah, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Nelson Mandela, Mae C. Jemison. I can go on. Even your local business man or woman, educators, a caring neighbor etc. So there are many options in addition to celebrities. Especially since many of these children have full access to libraries and the internet. They can read and do further research on these people as they do with celebrities. But in most cases many children subscribe to popular culture or the notion that a certain look, money and fame will offer them a better life because adults perpetuate this type of behavior.
Hopefully you have a better understanding of the point I was trying to make.
Miscommunication is the bane of the internet.
I apologize for going off on you. Now that you’ve clarified what you meant, I feel really silly getting all up in arms.
That said, I completely agree with you. I suppose I’m just sick of the continuing conversation that blame celebrities are “ruining our community and our children” when really? That’s on us. All on us. I’m just really tired of people taking the hide out of celebrities for their own screw ups. I always get jumpy when people start talking like that.
While we sit here and gripe about the impact that this has on kids, do we (as a community) not take part in it? Don’t we read the gossip blogs and talk about it to other people? And as you say, don’t we emulate their behavior and fashions and such? As much as we’re telling kids not to “glorify” celebrities, we do the same thing with the negative talk about them. Negative attention is still good attention, and kids pick up on that.
Children have access to a slew of wonderful role models and have the ability to use social media and the internet to do wonderful things….but why would they when that example is not set for them? We don’t talk about MLK or Oprah or the Obamas and the good they’re doing at home. We don’t set that example at home, so why should we expect kids to pick it up and carry it with them wherever they go? That’s definitely on us, not celebrities. This community likes to put a lot of blame on them when, at the end of the day, THEY aren’t responsible for raising these kids.
I’m not saying we should never gossip about celebrities, but when we obsess over them and their lives, can we really be surprised with the babies start doing the same?
The majority of this wasn’t really directed at you, Victoria Owl, but I feel like this was the point I really wanted to get out during the miscommunication.
Understood. Miscommunication is definitely a frequent thing of the internet and in general. It happens to us all 😀
And I totally agree with everything you’ve stated. Excellent points. It all starts at the home as well as within our communities. Leading by example is KEY! I too am tired of the blame game where celebrities or people in the media in general are blamed for any and everything. It is really a sad thing to see when people choose to point the finger at celebrities and everyone else but themselves when it comes to the influences on children.
But I also believe that the media and celebrities should be mindful of the impressionable minds that are watching them, so at some point they should also be held accountable for certain things as well. Especially since there are many children who sadly lack the love, support and guidance needed from the home.
Whenever I hear someone say “why are you bothered with what someone else does, its their life, they aren’t responsible for your kids.” While this is very true it is also a selfish way of looking at it. It’s not that they are bothered with how one chooses to live. It is the fact that you do not realize the impact that your behavior may have on a child’s life. You never know who is watching. Which is why I believe that we are all responsible as humans to make this world a better place as best we can. Especially if you have a large platform with the ability to influence many. In my opinion as adults, our goal should be to collectively help protect and lovingly nurture the minds of all children. We are all held accountable.
And I would like to also add that obviously no one has it all figured out. Life isn’t perfect and so we will always make mistakes and experience failures but we should all try to at least become a better version of ourselves each and everyday. If not for ourselves, for the children. I truly believe that it is important for children to see that we too fall but eventually learn how to rise again. That we were like them at some point and continue to make different mistakes while learning from each of those mistakes. Which again boils down to leading by example. Not to be perfect but to strive for better. We can do this without harsh judgement and ridicule from one adult to the other. Team work makes the dream work and I truly believe that it takes a village to raise a child.
SMART!
When you are your daughter’s most influential icon, you know you’ve made an impact. Amazing. I might try that next year myself. 🙂