I am a sucker for new school supplies. At the beginning of every year I’d see my new pencils and notebooks and I’d think “success”. Enter in my mother, who would label it all. Down to the pencils. EVERYTHING had my name on it. I remember asking her why, to which she’d explain that putting my name on things let everyone else know it was mine. What a concept, I thought, that perception is molded by labels (I think my exact thought was “that’s it? Write my name and they’ll know to leave my stuff alone?).
For as long as I can remember, people have spoken against labeling. I specifically remember a study by Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson which outlined the dangers of labeling. The gist of the study was that they told teachers at an elementary school that some of their students had scored in the top 20% of an exam that was administered to identify “academic bloomers”. In reality, the “bloomers” were randomly selected and did no better than their peers. After a year, they administered the test again. They found that the “bloomers” scored above their unselected peers by 10-15 IQ points. By labeling the bloomers, they created somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
There are two very important things that I take from this study. First, is the positive and powerful effects that labeling can have, the way these bloomers excelled simply because they were guided towards success and expected to excel. Second, is how the lack of encouragement to the non-bloomers led them, not to digress, but to remain stagnant in their abilities.
Little & Mighty, an all-american made company, applies that first principle well by using positive encouragement to reassure littles that they are mighty and capable of all things. That they, as mighty is defined, posses great and impressive power.
Little & Mighty provides a small selection of shirts for babies, from size three months to 24 months. They also provide a selection of shirts for kids sizes two to six. My favorites are the dinosaur hoodie and the penguin shirt. Each piece is made with quality 100% fine ring-spun combed cotton which held up to Isabella’s “mighty” outdoor playing. All of their tees can be machine washed and hold their quality well after several washes. They can also be machine dried and they shrink slightly in the dryer.
For the last month, Isabella, Seth, and I, have been caring for caterpillars. We watched them grow, we watched them build their chrysalis, and then we watched them become beautiful monarch butterflies. Calling them butterflies when they were caterpillars did not by any means cause them to change. Much less did calling them worms make them think they were not destined to be butterflies. Children aren’t as naturally in tune with their self-worth as are caterpillars. Encouraging our littles by labeling them as “mighty” “special” “divine” and all other sorts of positive adjectives, provide them with a sense of self-worth and trust in what we all know they’re capable of.
In a world where children are reminded all too often that they are little and where others will try to knock them down and make them think that they are not capable or valued, it is crucial that we constantly remind them that they are valued, capable, good, and mighty. It is also equally important for them to wear tees as durable as their self-esteem should be. Enter in, Little & Mighty. Head over now and use code: ‘AMOTHERADVENTURE’ for free shipping through 1/19.
*Thank you to Little & Mighty for providing us some tees to try. All opinions are our own.
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