my clothes fit but i'm small for my age these days as well.
finn's favorite new piece of clothing is a hand-me-down ruffled purple skirt from mollie and shank. a favorite from some of our favorites. and she put it on and i started crying in her room. because she was so happy. and i remember when mollie gave me that skirt saying it was penny's favorite and i thought i would take forever for finn to fit into it and it seemed like years away and then all of a sudden years away turned into this morning and it's so hot out today that i can't breathe when we walk to grab the laundry and i think purple is the color of the bruises on my dad's body after all these hospital visits and finn adds some red rainboots with yellow flowers painted on them to her ensemble and decides that she looks bootiful. no mommy, BE-oootiful.
and although there is so much talk about not emphasizing looks with our little girls and that we should talk about books and other things i watch her twirl in the mirror and tell herself how beautiful she looks and she walks over to her bookshelves and she pulls out four books and sits in a puddle of purple ruffles and reads to herself.
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its funny, my family never used words like pretty and beautiful. sometimes i think its also important to remind little girls that they are beautiful, so they never doubt it... i mean books and smarts and stuff too... but there is nothing wrong with a girl feeling truly beautiful just the way she is.... :)
ReplyDeletei tell alice she is pretty and beautiful all the time. i know what they say. but i think it's okay anyway.
ReplyDeletei had moments just like that with too big clothes put away for later that came out of the closet looking a lot smaller than they went in.
her self-confidence is ultimately the thing which'll make her the happiest in life, and be the starting point for finding happiness in everything else - telling her she's beautiful (inside and out) is super important.
ReplyDeleteI do think it's important to tell our children all the ways they are wonderful. We should tell them they are smart, teach them to be problem solvers, then praise them for it, notice and compliment their kind actions and good heart. But, we must also tell our daughters they are beautiful. Soon, far too soon, the world will tell them they are not. It's our job to have them throughly convinced that they are before that time comes.
ReplyDeleteI think, that if she's already telling herself she's BEEyouteeful, you've done a fine job.
I once went to a seminar on teenage sexuality (www.choicez.com.au) and the presenter, Jonathan Doyle, said the single most important thing a father can do for his daughter is to tell her she is beautiful. Over and over again, from the day she is born.
ReplyDeleteI happen to agree.
There's nothing wrong with telling our children they are beautiful. I don't care what anybody says. This world is too full of people with low self-esteem, because no one took the time to tell them that they were/are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThat's lovely, and makes me miss anew the little girl I never got to have.
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