Looking through photos from little Bean’s recital in June, I realized how much like a weed she has grown. She’s looking less and less like a wee lass and more and more like a little lady every day.
She’s blossoming and maturing, her cheeks and belly are losing their plumpness, and her little hands are losing their dimples. Which makes me very sad indeed.
She also happens to be eating us out of house and home…and I haven’t the foggiest notion where she’s putting it all.
As I watch her mannerisms change, her time spent standing before a mirror lengthen, and her front tooth-gap get filled in by that permanent chiclet, I’m so aware of how very important her self-image is.
Mine was so broken and distorted growing up, and my filter still occasionally malfunctions.
She’s listening when I talk negatively about my own body, she’s tuned in when I step off the scale and sigh…she’s becoming aware of my complaints and nit-picking…about my concerns of inadequacy and lack of femininity with this new do chopped short.
She’s hearing my insecure response to what the world has declared “beautiful”…and she’s developing her own response.
Our words and body language carry far more weight than we realize, and we need to intentionally model self-love and acceptance, whether we completely believe it yet or not. They desperately need us to.
Our little ladies are growing up in a world that tells them constantly how important their appearance is, and how elusive and unattainable “pretty” really is…
Their noses are too big, their hips too wide, their hair too frizzy, their smile too toothy, their legs too short. Or in my case, too long. Try taking those things to a middle school dance and putting your head on a boy’s shoulder. It’s physically impossible.
Above the clamor of cultural popularity and louder than the warped message society hurls at our girls…I long for them to know…
You are loved. You are gifted. You are powerful. You are free.
You are kind. You are smart. You are generous. You are funny. You are precious.
You were made for such a time as this. And you have a unique purpose in this world.
You are beautiful.
—> Just. the. way. you. are. <—
Download this week’s free printable right here and remind your little lady –
and YOURSELF – what matters most and who you truly are.
{this is formatted on a single 8.5 x 11 page, so you’ll get both 5 x 7 designs in one}
And while we’re talking about sweet girls, take a peek at “100 Things I Want To Teach My Daughter” by fellow South African ex-pat Lisa-Jo Baker…it’s simply fabulous!
And…just because ‘I’ve been humming it in my head all morning…a little Bruno Mars”
“When I compliment her she won’t believe me
And it’s so, it’s so
Sad to think that she don’t see what I see
But every time she asks me “Do I look okay? ”
I say…
When I see your face
There’s not a thing that I would change
‘Cause you’re amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile
The whole world stops and stares for a while
‘Cause girl you’re amazing
Just the way you are”
*As always, please note that this is exclusively for personal use and is NOT to be reprinted for resale purposes. Feel free to share the link, pin it, or head over to Facebook and visit Simply Bloom.
