When my daughter was born in 2005, I made a promise to myself that I was going to do everything in my power to help her have self confidence as a girl and as a women and to feel as comfortable with her body and looks as she possibly could.
I grew up in a family where my Mom didn’t exercise, my Dad was (and still is) and exercise fanatic and I constantly felt criticized for my body size (even when I was “skinny” in high school). My Dad constantly made comments about me dressing inappropriately or snacking on the wrong foods. To this day, I feel criticized under his eye, even when he doesn’t make any comments because I KNOW that he is looking.
I am so excited to see that some people have researched the outcomes of poor self esteem in young girls and how important it is to have role models of all shapes and sizes.
Research has shown that the majority of girls (aged seven in ten) feel they do not measure up in some way including their looks, performance in school and relationships.
If you feel that raising girls to have positive self esteem and a good body image is important, please do consider giving a donation to the Dove Fund in order to help educate young women.
I also urge mothers of girls to go check out the Dove Wesbite as they have valuable tools to help girls with their self esteem and body awareness, a section specifically for Moms and Mentors and free downloads such as:
* True You and Mirror, Mirror booklets
* Interactive exercises
* Workshop Facilitator Guide DVD
The Dove Self Esteem Fund has truly committed to inspire and educate young girls and women in order to help them see that beauty is not just on the outside, it’s on the inside too.
A girl or a woman should never feel bad about the way we look or dress, that is who we are