Slim and Trim

She's 8 years old and she has already internalized what she is "supposed" to look like. Yesterday my daughter got her practice uniform for her cheerleading team and it included a tank top -- tight-fitted. She tried it on for me and it fit her perfectly and looked great (if only I had muscular arms like that!) but her mood immediately went sour. She only wants to wear clothes that hide her body. She doesn't like what she sees. I remember what I called my "ugly stage" and even now I can't look at my 4th grade picture without feeling the way I did then. But my daughter isn't ugly. She's beautiful. She doesn't have a Barbie body and doesn't even fit the "normal" on the doctor's weight chart, but she's healthy, she's athletic, and she's beautiful. She spends 5 hours tumbling at the gym each week so her legs and arms are gorgeous. I don't think the older people at my church know what it does to her when they say (as I heard one say this week) "Don't you want to be slim and trim?" Geesh, undo everything I'm trying to instill in her about being healthy!!!! No, she doesn't need to be slim and trim! She needs to be healthy and fit and happy about who she is. Her doctor says she's healthy. Her coach says she's fit. But thanks to those who think we all have the same body type, the same body weight expectations, the same hormonal surges, she isn't happy about who she is. I hate to say this, but I know that how she is feeling about herself is "normal" for a tweenage girl, but I don't like this US model of normal. All of those adages: "beauty is only skin deep" and "true beauty can be found within" may be true, but no one really gives a crap about such things in this world. Pretty people frequently get the jobs, the breaks, the kudos from all they come into contact with. They decide what is "popular" while the rest of us (the majority!) try to mold ourselves into their image. When will the image of God in each of us matter? When will our eyes be opened to the beauty that exists only because we are God's children? Raising girls is difficult in this crazy mixed up world. I just hope she can one day (soon!) recognize how beautiful she truly is.