Jacklyn Zeman teaches daughters to make their own decisions

General Hospital actress Jacklyn Zeman is a single mother to daughters Cassidy Zee, 17, and Lacey Rose, 15, and admits its not easy, but she tries to let her kids make their own mistakes and decisions. In fact, the decisions that her daughters make are teaching her lessons.

When Cassidy was 3, one of her presents for her birthday was a butterfly net that came with a little jar. She opened it up and looked at it and said, ‘Mommy, why did you give me this?’ I said, ‘Cass, we have a lot of butterflies here and you love butterflies.’

She said, ‘Mommy, why would I want to take its life?’ Wow! That’s one of the best biggest life lessons which I learned from my 3-year-old. So now, the butterfly is the marker of life for me.

The 54-year-old mom has also taught her daughters that beauty is not the most important thing, and they need to look inside themselves.

I’ve told my girls since they were little that beauty comes from within. We all come in different shapes and sizes and who’s to say what’s prettier?

Lacey said to me once when she was 7, ‘Mommy, who’s prettier? Cassidy or me?’ And I said, ‘You’re both pretty, but it’s more about your soul and what you’re going to contribute to the world. It’s nice to have looks, but they fade quickly, so you can’t dwell on it. Some people will think you’re prettier because you’ve got brown hair and brown eyes and olive skin, and some people are going to think Cassidy’s prettier because she has blonde hair and blue eyes and light skin.’

And she said to me, ‘Yeah, people sure do like that blond hair, don’t they [laughs]?’ And as a redhead, I could relate!

Cassidy and Lacey’s father is Glenn Gorden.

Source: Soap Opera Digest