Our Rediculous Society and Raising Daughters...

In the last week alone I have read a couple different blogs about raising young girls and the horrible effect that our society has on them.  I read that girls as young as 3 worry about their weight.  WTF!?!  I think about when I was a young girl...I don't think I even thought about how I looked until I was maybe 10?  Okay probably earlier than that, but c'mon!  I thought my mom was beautiful, she wore hardly any make up if any.  I remember my aunt always looking nice and smelling nice.  Growing up people told me I should be a model, so I went to modeling school but that's as far as that went.  In 8th grade I cut my hair really short and I remember my girlfriends loved it, but boys didn't.  I remember being teased for being skinny.  Yeah...teased for being too skinny.  These days you get teased if you're not a size 0.

As a woman, I feel beautiful.  I want to be in shape and healthy but don't care if I'm a certain size.  I don't dye my hair anymore because I think the silver is awesome.  I wear make up, but sometimes I don't and I don't care if anyone see's me that way.  I admit there are definitely times I think about dying my hair again or the fact that my body is very different since I've had kids...but overall I feel beautiful.  Does that have something to do with growing up in a "hippy" community?  Is it because my mom raised me right?  Is it because I had positive female role models?  I don't know.  What I do know is times have changed and now that I have to think about these things with my own daughter...my heart breaks and I start panicking. 

Sometimes she tries to put on my make up because she sees me doing that and lately I've started wondering...is that not good?  Is she going to think she "needs" make up to be beautiful?  What's going to happen when she starts comparing herself to other girls that are skinnier?  What's going to happen when she compares herself to super models and celebrities?  OMG I'm freaking out.  Lord help me.

Comments

  1. AlyssaJune 11, 2013 at 6:39 PM

    From someone that didn't have a good experience with this while growing up and being trapped in the ridiculousness...all you can do is tell her that she's beautiful! She might not believe you all the time, but it's what she needs to hear. If she wants to go on a diet or change the way she looks because she's insecure, don't help her. It just reinforces her belief that something is wrong with her. Just tell her she's beautiful exactly the way she is...and if she grows up to be anything like you, Jas, then that's exactly what she'll be!

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