It's been a few weeks since I had a moment to post something, moving is definitely not something I want to relive anytime soon! Now that we are settled (somewhat) into our new house, I thought I'd write a post about something that I feel is important or should be important to all mom's.
I want to talk a little about diets.
As I've mentioned previously, my mom was a SAHM for just shy of 17 years. When I was a kid, probably around 8-ish years old, I remember my mom dieting. She tended to join Weight Watchers for a few months, lose some weight, then stop attending the meetings. I remember some of her Weight Watchers dinners that we were all served, some yummy and some not-so-yummy, and while I know she tried to keep how she felt about her body away from my younger sister and I, it inevitably affected me.
She never described herself as "fat" or used any derogatory terms, but she would buy "Women's World" magazines with claims like "Lose 30 pounds by Christmas!" etched across the cover, she would watch Entertainment Tonight in the evenings and she NEVER EVER wore a dress or a bathing suit. Not in my memory at least.
As I was entering into high school, she joined Weight Watchers again and lost more weight then she ever had previously. No matter how much weight she lost, it never seemed to change how she felt about herself.
There's an article I read recently that was written by an adult daughter to her mother after just having her own daughter and I found it so empowering.
As children, we all think our mom is the most beautiful creature on earth. She loves us, comforts us, soothes our fears, makes us meals, plays with us and takes care of us when we are sick. At some point in childhood, we suddenly become aware that our mom thinks she is ugly, fat, unworthy and wishes she could change her body. Be skinnier. Then we look at ourselves, as young girls that tend towards awkward pre-teen body-esteem issues, and so begins the cycle of poor self-esteem and negative body image.
While we can't always control the media outlets and how they control the trends of what is beautiful and what isn't, we can absolutely control what our children know as beautiful and real. I don't have a biological daughter, but I have watched this horrible cycle begin to raise it's ugly head in my step daughter and it makes me sad. Whether we are the mother's to daughters or sons we should be teaching our children that HEALTH is beautiful. While those adopting the diet programs that have become so popular in North America have good intentions, it tells our children that we are not satisfied with our body. It makes so much more sense to adopt healthy habits and embrace our body. Diet programs are designed to assist in losing weight, but they do not give you the self esteem you lost somewhere along the way.
I've talked before about how much I love my stretch marks from my pregnancies and am not afraid to show them. This just goes a step further. I don't want either of my boys to become self conscious, or judge someone that isn't societies version of "beautiful" just because they want to wear a bathing suit at the beach. It's about feeling comfortable in our bodies and encouraging our children to do the same. Statistics show that 81% of 10 year old girls are afraid of being fat. 51% of 9 and 10 year old girls feel better about themselves when they are on a diet.
Let's all set a positive, healthy example for our children so they can grow to be healthy, strong, and their own version of beautiful.
Here's a link to the beautiful article I read that inspired this post: http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/wellbeing/8760102/When-your-mother-says-shes-fat
