Had a talk about body image (in not so many words) with my FIVE YEAR OLD daughter a few days ago.
Here is the senerio. I am in the bathroom, doing something... fixing my makeup - I think. Anyways, Emma comes in. She is topless. She has jeans on. She looks at me and says, " I need to lose weight." So I say, "No, you don't. Why would you say that?" And she replies, " I don't like the way my body looks. My body looks funny."
I explained to her that she is beautiful, that God makes us all different, and the most important thing is that we are healthy.
The next day, she came downstairs and says, "Mom, I want to be a supermodel."
Ahh, a little girl with dreams.
She has since been praticing her walk, her turns, and her look.
Where does it come from. I have always been careful not to use the F A T word around her. I have always exersized - except for the past six months - but that is another blog in itself.
STILL, it is already about looks. How does it come to this? Is it from something as simple as me wearing makeup? Is it Hannah Montana and the Disney Channel? I wish someone can tell me why she doesn't understand - even though I say it over and over - you have to be pretty on the inside as well as the outside.
Hmmm.
Mel, she seems so young for this. Unfortunately, I am afraid that it is something that us girls have to learn on our own. I still think that you have to keep telling her the things you are telling her...
ReplyDeleteIt is difficult when they start to notice how they look. I would love to protect her (and them) from all the bad things.
ReplyDeleteGirls seem to start things much quicker than boys. And little girls are mean. They already talk about who wears what in her class.