I like this new Barbie that was created to portray a more realistic body type so our young girls don’t grow up thinking the one on the left has to be the standard or norm.
Would you believe me if I told you we are already dealing with body image issues in the first grade? Yep, we are. It took one boy calling our daughter “fat” to get the ball rolling. She came home and didn’t say anything right away. She didn’t really even seem sad. She put away her things and then changed into some shorts and a tank top and asked if she could ‘workout’ on the treadmill. I didn’t know what was going on at this point but my immediate response was, “No, honey, you’re too young to be working out. You can play outside though.” A few minutes later I find her running laps in the house. Like sprinting. I pulled her into the kitchen as I was preparing dinner and stooped down and looked into her eyes and said, “Honey, what’s going on? Why are you doing this?” Silence. I finally risked asking, “Did somebody say something to you at school?” I didn’t want to put words in her head so I just left it at that in case something hadn’t been said. But sure enough somebody had spoken hard words over her that fell deep into her heart.
She filled up with tears and told me about it. We hugged. I told her I was sorry and I knew that hurt her feelings. We talked about all the things we know to talk about: you are made in God’s image. You are beautiful just the way you are. Size doesn’t matter. You aren’t fat and even if you were that doesn’t define who you are. I didn’t tell her I had the mind to go knock somebody’s teeth out. I’m kidding, I really didn’t because I know it’s the nature of human nature. We all have it and have said mean things before. And it won’t be the last time Sophie has mean words spoken to her. But still…….that’s my girl you’re messin’ with and I don’t like it one bit!
Later that week we talked more about focusing on being healthy so we could be strong followers of Christ. How we could change some habits in our eating and incorporate more physical activity in order to be healthy. But also taking our thoughts captive and not obsessing over the way we look. Such a hard balance to strike. Taking care of our bodies but not obsessing over them. Wanting to feel confident in the way we look but not wanting the way we look to dictate the way we feel.
I’m glad to say that Sophie’s indoor lap running has now ceased. She is getting some running practice for a school 5K twice a week and so that’s been good.
These are hard things to go through with our children but they really are rich in training. If we didn’t have platforms like these we’d miss out on some great lessons that can’t always be taught at the dinner table or in Sunday School.
Have you had some of these issues with your daughters? If so, any words of advice?
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