Something is Concerning Me

So in the morning, the sweetness plays in her exersaucer while I partake in a little Good Morning America and sip my coffee. It is one of the best times of the day as we are both content and happy in our own little worlds.
The other morning however, Ms. Robin Roberts was covering a story that caught me a little off guard.
If you have 6 minutes, please watch! (click on the picture)

As a mom of a little girl, and as a woman who has a life long issue with her own body image I was immediately taken aback. I am not saying that I didn't know this was happening out there, I can only remember some of the mean things said on the playground when I was a kid, but now that I am a mom my perspective is different. Not only for Caroline, but for me.

There was something that was said at the end of the clip about making sure what we say around our children encourages good self esteem, not necessarily about the children but about us. They actually asked a group of little girls what their mom's thought about themselves, and the one girls reply was "She is always saying she needs to go to the gym, because she thinks she needs to lose weight". I immediately felt bad. I am always telling my husband that I need to lose weight, that I am on a diet, that I feel ugly. (Being vulnerable here so please don't judge) I realized in that moment that I am teaching my daughter something about the way she should view herself.

If there is one thing that I am sure of in the recent weeks...is that Caroline pays attention to everything that I do. She mimics me and follows me around. Not only am I her mom, but for the next couple years I am the closest role model she will have. So what I say and do really matters. As a person who thoroughly was (working through them as we speak) engulfed in insecurity, I desperately want differently for my daughter. I want her to be secure in the beautiful person God made her to be. I want her to be secure in her talents, in her relationships and at school. I want her to be secure in herself, living a life free of insecurity!

I am not naive enough to think that she will adapt everything that I think about myself as her own issues, but I am aware to the fact I have moldable clay in my presence 24 hours a day. It's enough for me to think twice about what I say about my looks and body in front of C. This video clip has also made me realize how important it is to build your children up. There are SO many other forces in this world trying to make our children feel bad about themselves, we can at least be a sounding board of truth! So whether you have a boy, or a girl or yet to have a baby... there is always someone little watching. Show them how a confident woman looks!

Healthy and Happy,
Lindsey