How a Mom's Stretched-Out Headband Was Proof Her Daughter Saw What She Couldn't

Get the Full StoryLike many moms, Brea Schmidt hasn't always loved the reflection she saw in the mirror - the one of her makeup-free face with a boring stretchy headband pulling back the hair she didn't have time to style. But she had no idea that very headband carried an entirely different meaning to her 5-year-old daughter.

During a seemingly innocuous conversation about princesses, it all became clear to Brea. She wrote on Facebook:

My daughter: Mommy, who are your favorite princesses?

Me: I really like Belle, and then Ariel second.

Her: I like Elsa, Anna and Belle. And then Moana, Rapunzel and Sofia.

Me: Thats a lot of princesses!

Her: You know who my favorite queen is?

Me: Who?

Her: You. You're my favorite queen.

"Maybe she thought this headband I always wear to keep my hair out of my face while I do 'all the things' was actually a crown," the blogger behind The Thinking Branch wrote. She then thought she should start looking at it that way as well, as a form of much-needed, rarely achieved self-care.

"Because wouldn't my soul feel a lot different if I stopped looking at my head-banded self in the mirror as 'that mom' who isn't putting enough into her appearance - and instead see 'that mom' whose kids see her as their queen. And one who should remember to treat herself like one too," she wrote.

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