An eight-month-old studies her motherโs face, and her mother lets her. That small, daily exchange sits at the center of a story about something much larger: choosing, on purpose, what you pass on to your children and what ends with you. This one is for the mom who is unlearning while she parents, for the new mom who worries she is overthinking, and for the mom-to-be who wonders if she has to have it all worked out first. Iconic Glam Kids Editorial
Bailey Nye has a habit her mom describes simply: โShe has this thing where she studies my face like sheโs trying to figure me out, and I just sit there and let her.โ One mother, whose daughter was the cover model of our April 2026 issue, wrote those words. A few lines earlier, she wrote something that anyone searching for help with breaking generational cycles will recognize. Becoming a mother, she explained, made her โlook at everything I went through and decide what stops with me.โ
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This is a story about both of those things at once: a baby learning her motherโs face, and a mother learning, in real time, which parts of her own story she will not hand down. What Brittany did write about is what she is choosing now.
A Chapter She Did Not Plan
Before Bailey, Brittany was raising two boys and, as our printed feature told it, believed her family was complete. Then, within three months, she lost both her mother and her sister. During that season of grief, she learned she was pregnant with a daughter.
We will not add feelings she did not name. What we can say is that Bailey arrived into a family already changed, and that the mother who welcomed her was, by her own account, paying close attention. Close attention is the thread that runs through every answer Brittany gave us.
Breaking Generational Cycles, One Honest Look at a Time
โBefore I had kids, I didnโt understand how much it would force me to deal with myself,โ Brittany wrote. โNot just love them, but look at everything I went through and decide what stops with me.โ
Breaking generational cycles is often described as one big decision. Brittanyโs version sounds smaller and more daily. โI used to think being a good mom meant doing everything right,โ she wrote. โNow I know itโs more likeโฆ you mess up, you learn your kid, you keep showing up anyway. Itโs not clean or perfect. Itโs just real.โ
Iโm not trying to be perfect. Iโm just making sure my kids donโt feel the things I had to feel growing up.
Brittany, Baileyโs mom
She is also clear about what her story is not. โI think people expect moms to have this soft, perfect story, but mine isnโt like that,โ she wrote. โIโm learning as I go, unlearning things, and being really aware of the kind of environment Iโm creating.โ Notice the order of those words. Learning and unlearning happen side by side, while she is already raising three children. There is no pause to get it all sorted first.
Learning Each Other in Real Time
Which brings us back to the face. Her daily tradition was not a bath or a bedtime song. She named this: โIโll talk to her, make expressions, and sheโll copy me or just stare like sheโs processing everything.โ
โIt sounds small, but itโs not,โ she wrote. โThatโs how we connect. No schedule, no routine, just us figuring each other out in real time.โ
Look at what she is doing in that moment. She is not teaching, correcting or hurrying. She is letting herself be seen, and seeing back. It lines up with something else she wrote: that she pays attention โto who she is, not just who Iโm told she should be.โ A mother who wants her daughter to feel known has found a way to practice it every day, with nothing more than her own face and her time.
A Moment for Parents
Brittanyโs turning point was a decision: to look honestly at what she went through and choose what stops with her. If you wrote down one thing from your own childhood you want to carry forward, and one thing you want to end with you, what would each one be? And what is one small way you could practice the first one tomorrow?
Overthinking, and Staying Anyway
Brittany does not claim to feel confident every day. โSome days I feel like Iโm doing it right, other days Iโm questioning everything,โ she wrote, โbut I donโt check out. I stay aware, I stay present.โ
That phrase, โI donโt check out,โ may be the most useful one in her story. Doubt is not the problem she is trying to solve. Many parents find it hard to stop second-guessing, and Brittany admits she does it too. Her goal is simpler: whatever the day holds, she stays. โThat matters more to me,โ she wrote, โthan looking like I have it all together.โ
If You Areโฆ Face to Face With Something New
If you are expecting, you do not have to have your whole approach settled before your baby comes. Brittany is still โlearning as I go, unlearning things,โ and that is part of the work, not a sign you are behind.
If you are in the early months, try Baileyโs favorite exchange. Sit face to face, make an expression, and wait to see what comes back. No schedule required.
If you are living something like this, whether that means grief and a new baby arriving close together or parenting while you unlearn your own past, you do not have to get it perfect. Messing up, learning your child and showing up anyway is the practice.
In Her Words
If she could sit beside another new mom today, Brittany wrote, this is what she would say: โIโd probably tell her sheโs overthinking it, because I do it too. Youโre gonna question everything, even when youโre doing fine. But your baby doesnโt need you to be perfect or have it all figured out. They just need you there. Consistent. Paying attention. Trying. If you care this much, youโre already doing more right than you think.โ (Brittany Leady, Baileyโs mom)
From the Editorโs Desk
Brittanyโs line โyou mess up, you learn your kid, you keep showing up anywayโ is very close to one of the most useful ideas in Positive Discipline: mistakes are opportunities to learn, for parents as much as for children. Positive Discipline describes a simple way back after a hard moment, often called the Rs of recovery: recognize the mistake, reconcile by apologizing, and resolve it by working on a solution together.
With an eight-month-old, repair can look like returning: softening your face, picking her up, finding her eyes again after a stressful minute. As Bailey grows, it will sound more like โI got loud. Iโm sorry. Letโs try again.โ Children who see a parent repair learn that a relationship can survive a mistake, and that is how a new pattern takes hold: not in one grand moment, but in many small returns, face to face.
โDo the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.โ
MAYA ANGELOU
ICONIC GLAM KIDS | NOTES EDITION | BAILEY NYE | AGE 8 MONTHS
Bailey Nye and Brittany Leady were featured in the April 2026 Notes Edition of Iconic Glam Kids (Issue 56), the magazine for children and the parents who believe in them first.