I am comfortable with my body!

I am comfortable with my body.....well, in all honesty no.  As a typical woman, I can always find a thing that I can improve in my body.  All of us can admit that at least in the American culture and this includes South America, there is a push for women (we can include men) to look certain way.  We see it in the magazines and in the advertisements.  Beautiful is considered, thin and fit, and tall or at least a good height.  (Trust me, I am short and I know).  When I use to go back to Colombia, it was common to hear people talk about plastic surgery, and in the last few years, I have seen how that is growing here in the USA.  I see more and more billboards and advertisement for plastic surgeries, in a way that I had never seen before.

Having said this, as parents and adults (because even if you don't have kids), you have the ability to influence children by the things you say around them.  We must be careful when we are talking about our bodies and other peoples bodies.  To call myself or someone else fat, around my girls is not a good idea.  I want them to grow up loving who God made them to be and to be comfortable with their body.  However, this depends on me, and how I talk and feel about myself, the things I let them watch on TV, read and play.  So here is a list of the things that I try to say and not to say around them and why.

What I do say:

• I talk about food and my body in relationship to health.

• I talk about the things that I don't like to eat too much, because they are not healthy for me. I never say because they make me fat. (Will cross that bridge when they get older).

• I talk about exercising for my health and fun.

• I talk about other people's body in a positive way and not derogatory. Growing up, I could see how for some people tall was always better than short. "That short little thing...." Or making a joke of someone that is too tall or fat.

• I like to talk about lifestyles and not diets.

What I do not say:

• I don't talk about how I want to loose 10 pounds to be back on pre-pregnancy weight. Maybe one day I will get there. Lol!

• I don't talk about how someone is fat or super skinny. I try to be careful, to not mention people's size unless is necessary and if so, I don't make a big deal out of it or a joke of it.

• I don't talk about diets with other people while my kids are hearing it. (Even though, I like to hear what they are doing to loose weight).

• I don't talk about my true feelings of my body image in front of my kids. I grew up in a country where beauty is important, right body size and facial features. People around me had surgery's done and I was encouraged to do so as well.

Definitely, I have changed so much in this area of my life.  When my kids ask me if I am beautiful, I tell them, I am because God created each one of us unique.  We are not all the same and we need to appreciate the good things each one of us has.  You see, as a young child I didn't hear this enough in relationship to the overwhelming amount of  messages our culture gives us on a regular basis.  What I heard from the adults around me, the advertisement and TV was of some ideal beauty.  This is why I am careful with the toys my kids play with, yes they have some Barbies, but they also have dolls that have other body shapes and colors.  I am careful with what they watch (actually they don't really watch shows, but when they do, we also talk about it).  

Here is a little background about me and probably same story for many other boys and girls.  By the time I was a teenager, I struggled with my weight.  I have never been fat (except after my babies) but as a teenager I might have had 5-10 pounds more than a skinny girl.  So, I had some meat to my bones, and looking back on it, I spent too much time worrying about nothing, instead of being grateful and being carefree.   I would hide under long t-shirts and long pants.  It was hot in Texas and I didn't really like wearing shorts.  When I got to high-school, I tried a little bit of bulimia but a dear friend reach out to me and his mother educated me on the harm this could do to my body....so I stopped.  All of these feelings were so un-necessary, because in reality we are all beautiful in our own ways and sizes.  Over the years, I have embraced who I am and I am thankful for health and life.  I don't mind being short at all, I just think I am cute that way. Lol, don't worry, I am not consider or big headed.  From time to time, I still struggle with being satisfied with my weight.  But I choose to look at it now from a health and lifestyle point of view.  Lol, I still want to loose 10 pounds, but I don't talk about it in front of my children.

I want you to take away from this post:

• The importance of teaching our kids, YES BOYS AND GIRLS, to be happy with who they are and what others look like.

• To be able to teach them a healthy lifestyle that can shape their lives for generations to come. To understand that what we see out there is not always real, because these are airbrushed pictures and they do not set the standard on what beautiful is.

• All of this comes from what we think about ourselves and how we talk about others.

• Let us be conscious of what we eat (I can't feed my kids junk food and expect that when they hit puberty or get older, they won't struggle with weight), what we call or how we refer to our children, others and ourselves, even when we are joking.

Remember that there is a world out there that will already put our children down, so let us be the strong foundation they need at home.