I am not a word smith, I am not a word wizard, but what I am is a mother.
A mother of two beautiful girls. Two girls that could not be any different if they tried.
I am a mother of a pre-teen that came to me in tears today because she has experienced what ALL girls go through.
BODY IMAGE. We all remember the years of pre-teen to teen years that we looked at our body and thought OMG. Heck, I still have days that I look and go arrrgggggh. But for me today I thought....
What, when did this happen, she is 11 years old. She is a child. She is my oldest but my baby too. As I saw the tears roll down her cheeks and the look in her eyes that she was not measuring up to what society says it right, I felt tears rolling down my own cheeks. I looked at this beautiful child that I have watch grow from infancy to toddler to little girl with pig tails to the developing preteen.
To me she is prefect and not only beautiful outside but she is beautiful in the inside. She is giving, loving, caring, thinks of others before herself. But does society tell her that this is what it is looking at when it looks at her. NO of course not. Did she want to hear that from her mother, NO of course not. Did her mom tell her this, YES.
As we sat in the middle of the bedroom floor both crying and me trying to find the words that she needed to hear and that would make a difference, I realized that society SUCKS. Who has the right to make my child feel inferior about her body. Hello, I am a full-size, plus-size, fluffy woman and it bothers me but I am old enough and happy enough with myself to tell those that think that I don't fit into the mold to BITE ME. But my baby is not there yet.
What are we doing to our daughters? I tell my child to be happy and healthy. That is her goal, not a number on a scale. I try to show her this through my words and actions.
Today was a day that I will remember as the day my baby was welcomed into the world of womanhood.
