As a parent, it must be pretty hard to manage the expectations of your children when they reveal what they want to be when they grow up:
'Yes, of course it's realistic you'll one day be Queen of England.'
'You want to be as famous as Miley Cyrus? Go for it!'
'Oh, so you want to be a car. Like, an actual car? Well, we support you 110 per cent.'
Sometimes, adults need to push aside thoughts of failure and the realities of a world that allowed Donald Trump to become President and remember what it's like to be a child with a view that anything is possible.
You can be a Disney Princess if you wish hard enough and dreams really do come true.
And it sounds like that's exactly what Blake Lively's parents did when she was growing up.
On Wednesday, the Shallows actress appeared at the L'Oreál Women of Worth gala and spoke on CTV's eTalk revealed her mother's advice about self-belief.
The mother-of-two said: 'Whatever it was, whether I was doing a school project, I was doing something creative, she would always say, 'You can't mess it up.'
'I mean, I could mess it up really severely, but just the fact that she told me I couldn't almost made me feel like I couldn't,' she added.
The 29-year-old , who earlier this week was spotted walking through the streets of New York with her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, said it's thanks to her mother's positivity that she was able to try out a career as an actress.
'I took risks and I would do things I otherwise would have limited myself with,' she explained.
The actress has spoken out about the need for parents to teach children about realistic beauty standards and shedding the idea of perfection in the past, and took the opportunity to address the issue again ahead of the gala, specifically on the subject of positivity on social media.
She told eTalk: 'I do think we all believe in the same thing, which is everybody wants happiness, everybody wants peace, everybody wants to feel safe and secure.'
Blake, if you fancy adopting a child/adult anytime soon, you know where we are.
Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
