Saturday April 19th, 2008
She stood nose to nose in front of my full length mirror; her two-year-old feet stuffed into a pair of my lets-not-be-mommy-for-an-evening shoes. She looked at herself in toddler jeans and my shiny black pumps and said to herself,
I’m beautiful. I’m a pretty princess.
She hasn’t been tainted by the world’s view of beauty yet. She only knows what her father and I have spoken into her expanding mind: that she is in fact a beautiful princess. She doesn’t know what “fat” is, or how acne can scar a soul, or what it feels like to be “too” tall. She hasn’t been trained to see herself through culturally 
defined screens of beauty.
defined screens of beauty.
She only sees herself in grown-up shoes with a grin, and eyes so smiling-wide that they are nearly closed.
Naomi clip-clopped her way out of my bathroom across the tile to find her box of dress-up shoes. After multiple tries at different blue, pink or yellow child’s heels, she returned to mine with a new, quiet look on her face. She wanted me to fix her hair.
I brushed it and pinned it away from her face with a simple barrette. She looked at herself again in my mirror, and putting my face next to hers I whispered her ear again how beautiful she was, my beautiful baby with a heart that would someday grow into a woman’s. And then suddenly I realized how much I wished I could feel the same way about myself; how I could look at myself closeup in a mirror and see myself with untrained eyes. Or maybe with eyes so smiling-wide they are nearly closed.
me too
)
I can’t remember when it happened, when I started critiquing myself. I pray for my daughters to have a positive self image, to know they are beautiful inside and out. It will be a sad day when they start seeing themselves through the eyes of the world. I hope I can keep it away for as long as possible.
What a heartfelt and true post. As a fellow mother of two little girls, these thoughts are always running through my mind as well.
You’re doing a great job, Sarah. Your girls are so blessed to have you as their mama.
Your girls are indeed beautiful princesses. What a precious moment!
I echo your thoughts… I wish I could change the way I see myself. Along those lines, reading your weight loss story has been something… needed… for me. I tend to have some perfectionist/extremist tendencies and obsess over my weight (the number) and my body. I can relate to your story on a several levels. Reshaping my thinking is a journey I feel I’m only just beginning.
That is such a gorgeous post. I love that little girls see themselves as they truly are…beautiful. A few weeks ago I wrote a similar piece about my daughter dancing in front of our full length mirror singing that she is a beautiful girl. I pray that she will always know how beautiful she is.
i often think of how, if i criticize my appearance, i am teaching my boys not to accept themselves. i want them to feel good about who they are created to be–even david with his small size and hand with two fingers. he is a beautiful creation. how can i teach him to accept his differences if i don’t accept mine?
“lets-not-be-mommy-for-an-evening” = HOTT!!!
i love the way you write.
me too.
when i tell my girls they are beautiful they say “i know.”
to know, and not i could be…
i want that.
Loved this.
Yes! It is such a shame that we let the world taint our view of beauty.