Raising a daughter

 

I have always known that I wanted to have kids and at least one girl. It was a given. At one point I even wanted five! This was obviously before I had any or truly knew what having children entailed.

So when I got pregnant the first time I prayed that it would be a girl. Of course I would have been happy with whatever God gave me, you know that whole sermon. It was the honest truth especially because of my high risk pregnancy we were happy to get through another week.

Nonetheless, to say I was ecstatic when they told us we were having a girl would be putting it mildly. I went crazy shopping. Madeline had a full closet of clothes by the time she was six months pregnant. That really hasn't changed even now and she goes to private school which means she wears a uniform most of the year.

But as she gets older I see the hardships of having a daughter in this day and age. In a world where there a blogs about how to be anorexic, (Really?!) it is scary to think of some of the things we will have to deal with. I will be the first one to say I am completely neurotic when it comes to my weight. I am forever on a diet and always working out. I pray to God Madeline does not end up like me. For that reason my husband sent me the link to a wonderful article. "How to speak to your daughter" is such a refreshing piece to read and it really opened my eyes.

I see my daughter and her friends already talking about their weight and debating what to eat because "A burger isn't healthy". Well no, a burger for breakfast, lunch, and dinner probably isn't the best choice. The problem is that they are already thinking this way and even more disturbing is that they say it because they want to be flyers on their cheerleading squads. I am trying my best not to talk about my weight in front of her or talk about diets. Instead encouraging her to come running with me or trying new healthy foods has been my new mission.

Dealing with the body issues will be just one of many things to come. It seems that girls are starting young and those "Mean Girl" tendencies are coming out sooner. One second they are best friends the next they can't stand each other. Surely we all went through this. It must be that it was just so long ago we don't remember. We can only hope as mothers that our daughter make it out of these hard years unscathed. Please feel free to add any comments or suggestions as to deal with our feisty little girls, because mine is definitely a trip and a half! Best of luck to all you moms!!