A few weeks ago, my 7-year-old daughter was playing at a friend’s house when she messaged me on her game tablet to come pick her up. I didn’t ask why I just went to get her. I asked her once she was home how it was, and she told me she had a weird feeling and she was just “trusting her guts,” which I loved hearing her say.
Apparently, her friend had a bunch of extended family show up at the house that we were unaware of. She is extremely outgoing, friendly, and confident so she thought nothing of listening to that inner voice and speaking up. I hope she holds onto all of this the older she gets, the more other voices come in to cloud her judgment.
My parents always told me growing up that if I ever needed them to come get me, for any reason, to just call them. They would not be mad at me; they would not ask questions. And there were a few times I did even if I made some poor choices and realized that halfway through and knew I needed to leave. I will tell both my children the same thing.
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I also remember as a little girl, I used to tell my mom I had a certain feeling about places, people, or situations. Something I felt strongly about without any logic or proof. One could say the same about faith—trusting or believing in something that others may doubt because they do not have hard facts. My mom could have brushed it off as childhood imagination or even anxiety; instead, she told me something I now tell my own daughter when she says similar things . . . that’s your gut feeling, trust it.
It’s your intuition. Always listen to it.
Especially being a woman, I think it’s even more important to listen to your inner self now more than ever. Outside forces like social media, peers, and even leaders may tell you one thing, but that inner voice tells you something feels off.
I want my daughter to know that even when others are telling her something is fine or right if her inner self is telling her something is off, to listen to that voice. Sometimes it’s God protecting you. I truly believe listening to that voice has saved me from several situations not only in high school and college but just walking through Hobby Lobby as a mom the other day.
It’s sad how aware we have to be nowadays, and I truly believe once you become a mom, that voice, that intuition, becomes elevated to superhero level: momtuition. Momtution is knowing exactly what is best for your own child. God gave you your specific child, not anyone else. You know what is best for them. Even if a doctor, teacher, or peer tells you to try one thing for your child, if that doesn’t work for you or you feel you’re not getting the right answers, you have to listen to your gut.
This is not the same thing as being a helicopter parent or extending your own inner anxieties onto your child. It’s truly having the superhero power of a mother’s intuition and an inner feeling that something is not right and listening to it.
My Hobby Lobby situation the other day had my “momtuition” radar going off and truly put a scare in me. I noticed a man following my daughter and me around the store.
Some may say it was harmless. I didn’t feel that way.
I noticed he looked at nothing there and didn’t even have a shopping cart (also who goes into Hobby Lobby during the holidays and doesn’t look at one thing, their decorations are amazing). He would just slowly follow behind us. I had a bad gut feeling. I told my daughter, who loves to wander off, to stay close to me.
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When checking out, I noticed he was waiting by the exit. I told the cashier how I felt, expecting to get an odd look, but she immediately agreed with me and said, “You have to trust your gut. If something feels off, it probably is.”
She called her male manager to walk me out to my car, where the man sheepishly walked away quickly toward a car where another man was in the driver’s seat. Once we were in the car, my daughter noticed I was a little shaken up. I didn’t want to explain too much, but she’s old enough that I have to tell her not all people are good and unfortunately sometimes we don’t find that out until it’s too late.
You always have to trust your gut feeling.
That whole situation could have been me overreacting or my overactive imagination; however, even if I was wrong, I didn’t lose anything by asking a manager to help me to my car. I could have lost everything important to me if I didn’t.
Later that week, I read an alert on a neighborhood Facebook post in my area that a suspicious man was taking photos of young girls and even tried asking two girls to get in his car. He looked exactly like the man at Hobby Lobby. Whether this was the same man or not, it solidified that you can never be too careful.
If you’re a mom to younger kids like me, we may not be dealing with the big stuff yet, but there are things we need to not doubt from our inner selves and trust that God-given intuition. Whether you’re not getting the proper medical answers you’re searching for or a feeling while walking through Hobby Lobby, listen to it. Trust yourself and what God is trying to tell you, and most importantly instill in your children at a young age that they can come to you with anything and to learn to trust their own inner voice and gut feeling.