Eleven years ago today I became a mom. And as prepared as I thought I was for that adventure to begin, nothing fully prepared me for how that little girl would change my life. Nothing. Not nine months of pregnancy. Not 50 pounds of weight gain. Not months of heartburn and sleepless nights. Not 13 hours of labor. Not an hour and a half of pushing. Not 7 pounds and 13 ounces of baby girl traumatizing my woman parts forever. Not sore engorged porn star boobs the size of melons. Nothing.
As my girls have grown and now my oldest is a tween and dealing with the influences of others and the outside world, I worry more and more about them. Especially her. My little Hall Monitor is constantly bombarded, like most girls, with comments about being ugly, fat, or stupid. And like most girls, she starts to believe them. It has always bothered me the effect society and the media has on women, their body image, their measure of self worth, and their self esteem. It still amazes and aggravates me how even I, a 30-something-year-old mother of 5, still allows outside influences like commercials and magazines to make me question if I'm comfortable in my own skin and if I'm okay with the number on the scale and the size of my jeans. If only I could wrap my little girls in their silky baby blankets and protect them from the harshness of life and being a girl. And how it breaks my heart to hear them ask at such a young age, "Am I fat?" Oh, how I wish for my daughters and women of all ages everywhere that they didn't have to deal with the distorted view that the world has on beauty. And that's exactly what it is....distorted.
My sister-in-law sent me this article that I LOVE. I love it on so many levels but especially love that it was written by a man. If only all men viewed being pretty as this writer does. And in time and with some female influence, I think they can. So in honor of my sweet daughter's birthday today, I wanted to share this article because it is something that is so important to me and something that I want for my girls and for women everywhere to recognize and believe. I'm hoping that with some help, the upcoming generation can revive the "pretty" in the world.
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| Happy Birthday, Ms. Hall Monitor. You are truly beautiful. Never forget it. |
3 comments:
I looooved that article too. My favorite was when he talked about the movie Grease. Remember how dad told us to never change for someone especially a boy? There's always a lesson to be learned.
Happy Happy Birthday to your cute "hall monitor" :)
Happy Birthday Ms. Hall Monitor!! I can't believe she is eleven already!!! Thank you for the article, Em (only 9) already comes home with the worldly comments about how she looks.
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