I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before that I have a daughter. (Truthfully, I have two. But only one of them is a teenager. - so far) I worry about her - after all, who wishes the same anxiety and neuroses that we had, on our children? And I was one MESSED up kid.
Overall, I think I've been pretty lucky. She's smart, she gets good grades. She likes boys but isn't obsessed with them. She dresses nice without being a slave to fashion. She has friends but doesn't have the pressure of being 'popular'. She's involved in school (Softball, Water Polo, Drama) but has time for outside activities like Jobs Daughters. And Luckily, she seems to have a pretty good body image. Yeah, she says things once in a while that make me want to pinch her, but overall I would say she's got a good handle on this issue. She accepts her curvy hips, and lack of ass with a droll humour that I admire.
But still, I cringe every time I see her leafing through a teen magazine. After all they SCREEM "You arn't good enough..." from every page. And so I figured it was time for "The talk" I sat her down and started to explain. "Honey, I want to talk about an important issue. You see, those pictures, those women. They aren't real. And I don't want you to start to compare yourself to them, or feel you have to live up to that sort of standard. Then I showed her This . It's a GREAT example of what they DO to those pictures before publishing them in magazines... and if that wasn't enough, check out This and for you men - This
To my surprise, N was even more upset and ultimately appalled by the pictures then C was... Men, don't mess with their fantasies!
