Beauty, Health & Parenting
I would love to be able to tell my ten-year-old daughter that looks don't matter but my mom taught me not to lie. The unfortunate truth is that we are all effected by looks. We all judge the book by it's cover whether we own up to it or not. The sad truth is that better looking people get better jobs, better pays and have more "friends" or rather more people interested in associating with them.
I am trying to keep a balance by not obsessing over my own looks. I don't wear make-up except occasionally. I don't wear heels because I like my feet. (Find it odd that most women shudder at ancient Chinese foot binding yet willingly totter around in high heels.) I don't fawn over pretty clothes but that being said I am as prone as most people these days with trying to "stay fit" by exercising regularly. Just the other day, I was complaining about how I can't seem to lose the extra inches from my tummy and my daughter asked why I needed to lose it. A question that had me flummoxed. According to my doctor, I am the perfect body weight for my age and body type so why do I obsess with my stomach?Of course, it's because I am as easily influenced by media images as everyone else. I am ashamed to admit that I would love to emerge out of the water at the beach sporting a body like Halle Berry and have my husband's eyes glaze over. But these are vulnerabilities I don't want my daughter to learn or watch me display. All I want her to learn is the importance of staying healthy and just as importantly, happy.
My son, on the other hand, couldn't care less about his own looks or anyone else's but even as I cheer for his attitude, my mother's heart worries that people might judge his wild, curly hair and his first-thing-I-could lay-my-hands-on style of dressing but than I have to remind myself not to curb my son's devil may care spirit. After all, isn't that precisely the attitude towards looks I wish we all had!
I am trying to keep a balance by not obsessing over my own looks. I don't wear make-up except occasionally. I don't wear heels because I like my feet. (Find it odd that most women shudder at ancient Chinese foot binding yet willingly totter around in high heels.) I don't fawn over pretty clothes but that being said I am as prone as most people these days with trying to "stay fit" by exercising regularly. Just the other day, I was complaining about how I can't seem to lose the extra inches from my tummy and my daughter asked why I needed to lose it. A question that had me flummoxed. According to my doctor, I am the perfect body weight for my age and body type so why do I obsess with my stomach?Of course, it's because I am as easily influenced by media images as everyone else. I am ashamed to admit that I would love to emerge out of the water at the beach sporting a body like Halle Berry and have my husband's eyes glaze over. But these are vulnerabilities I don't want my daughter to learn or watch me display. All I want her to learn is the importance of staying healthy and just as importantly, happy.
My son, on the other hand, couldn't care less about his own looks or anyone else's but even as I cheer for his attitude, my mother's heart worries that people might judge his wild, curly hair and his first-thing-I-could lay-my-hands-on style of dressing but than I have to remind myself not to curb my son's devil may care spirit. After all, isn't that precisely the attitude towards looks I wish we all had!