Sunday, January 22, 2012

Raising a Daughter

Guy Delcambre's blog post, Saving a Little Girl, got me thinking tonight.

I have a little girl now; I think I'm still surprised about it.  I was so sure my life would be full of a herd of little boys, and then she came along:

Oh my,  how I adore this little sweet pea.  When I hold her and think about this special mother-daughter relationship that I get to have with her, I am often reduced to tears.  I want to tell her everyday how wonderful, lovely and amazing she is.  I want her to know how much her Jesus loves her.  I want her to be strong, confident and exactly who she was put on this earth to be.  I want to shield her from all of the ugly this world hurls on females.

I know the wolves will come.  They will lie to her, they will try to rob her confidence and steal her joy.  I got a small glimpse of it when a well meaning friend hoped my healthy daughter would be "thin and beautiful" when she outgrew her fat rolls.   I tried very hard not to kick my friend in the shins for such a ridiculous remark.

So I started making a plan:

I will not call myself fat.  (Idea mooched from Sarah at Emerging Mummy)
I will not refer to the little dudes in her life as "boyfriends."  (Seriously, why start that crap?)
I will encourage health; not skinny and airbrushed.
I will build her up.
Lastly, and most importantly, her father and I will stand between her and that pressure with our big Can o' Whoop Ass.  

Because she's our girl.

4 comments:

Ginger said...

Oh Momma, they just get more and more lovely as they grow. Now, we are only 7 years into this and haven't hit the teenage years and as I write this she is eating her dry cereal out of the bowl like a puppy but really, they are just very special.
I read this article the other day in Huffington Post (gotta keep an eye on the other "side") and thought this was very well stated.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-bloom/how-to-talk-to-little-gir_b_882510.html

Katherine said...

I ABOSLUTELY agree. It is important to be HEALTHY, not "model" stereotyped. I love the other ideas about not putting ourselves down, etc. as well. :)

Sarah Bessey said...

Love it, Sara. You GET it. xoxo

Erin said...

I cannot stand the boyfriend talk with tots. Ugh!! My mom-in-law does it. NOOOOO!!!!!!!!