What is Beauty?

As a mother I try to encourage my daughter to be proud of who she is and let her know what true beauty is even at the young age of 6.

Last year my daughter attended public school and I spent a lot of time at the school as a member of PAC, Coach of the girls Basketball team and volunteering for many things. I constantly heard the girls and even the guys talking about the way other students looked, giving each other a hard time about their appearance because they didn't fit in to what was considered "beautiful" in today's society. I think one of the hardest things I heard was a Kindergarten student telling another student that she had really ugly clothes and that she was fat. The little girl being made fun of started to cry and some other children laughed. There is something truly wrong with our society when 5 and 6 year olds are are making fun of each other because of they clothes they wear aren't the latest style or that they don't meet the right standards for what is considered pretty. There was time in history when bigger women were considered beautiful, when being plus sized was considered a sign of status and wealth in society. When did become ok to allow our children to judge others based on their appearance?

I have been truly excited about Doves campaign to encourage girls and women to embrace their true beauty. I am truly excited about Operation beautiful

http://www.operationbeautiful.com

and now I am truly excited about encouraging women to embrace their mommy body

http://theshapeofamother.com/

. We need to stop focusing on outer appearance and come back to what is truly important. We need to encourage kindness, compassion and love for an individual. We need to look deep into a persons soul. We need to embrace the gifts we are given. We need to find the good in out flaws because they make us unique and those flaws aren't so much flaws but rather the individual beauty that is You or I. Love that oddly shaped nose because its you, love your freckles because they are you, smile more because that quirky smile makes others smile.

I think Mark twain said it best "Dance like nobody's watching; love like you've never been hurt. Sing like nobody's listening; live like it's heaven on earth."

Encourage your daughters to find their inner beauty and share it with the world
Encourage your sons to love a woman for her soul
Encourage your children to look for the good in all people and respect them, and love them, and be their friend even if they don't fit in to what society says is beautiful, hip, or cool.
Parents Love your children, encourege their uniquness because without indviduality the world would be a boring and colorless place.