It's probably safe to say that most, if not all, women don't love their bodies every day. It's almost impossible, with the ridiculous images that we are bombarded with in our world.
This is a much more real issue when I think about raising a daughter (this is yet another aspect that makes boys seem so much simpler!)...and it's not just when she hits her teenage years.
This is a much more real issue when I think about raising a daughter (this is yet another aspect that makes boys seem so much simpler!)...and it's not just when she hits her teenage years.
Staying up late one night when Andy was gone on business, I happened to catch some of the Tyra show. While I am not necessarily endorsing her, Tyra did a great job of tackling the tough topic. Here is a recap from the website of some of the show I saw:
Barbie and Bratz dolls should be the only thing on her mind. Her imagination should be running wild with thoughts of ponies and unicorns, instead, her thoughts are filled with images of slim women, and her heart is filled with the desire to be just like them. She’s in elementary school, she’s under the age of 10, and she thinks she’s overweight. With 40 percent of all 9 and 10 year olds on a diet, Tyra took a first-hand look at this disturbing statistic when she sat down with a group of young girls to discuss their negative body image and shocking fear of getting fat.
How frightening... prepubescent girls with eating disorders. What next? (Never mind- I don't want to know!)
I'm just curious how some of you mothers of young girls instill a healthy body image and healthy eating and exercise habits in your daughters. Do you ban Barbie for her ridiculously unrealistic depiction of a woman's body? Do you avoid the word "diet"? Make family exercise a regular activity? Get them involved in healthy food preparation? Or just sit back and pray?
