One of my daughter’s favorite performers are Peter, Paul, & Mary, and one of her favorite songs by them is called Inside. <\/p>\n
Tonight I was scanning Facebook and came across a link from A Mighty Girl<\/a>. A Mighty Girl is an excellent resource of zillions of ideas, toys, book titles, articles and more to help girls to grow up confidently. They shared a link from the Huffington Post of a letter from a father to his daughter about society’s hyper-focus on physical appearance. <\/p>\n In the article, Words From a Father to a Daughter (In the Makeup Aisle)<\/a>, Flanagan wrote: <\/p>\n When you have a daughter, you start to realize she’s just as strong as everyone else in the house — a force to be reckoned with, a soul on fire with the same life and gifts and passions as any man. But sitting in this store aisle, you also begin to realize most people won’t see her that way. They’ll see her as a pretty face and a body to enjoy. And they’ll tell her she has to look a certain way to have any worth or influence.<\/p>\n But words do have power and maybe, just maybe, the words of a father can begin to compete with the words of the world. Maybe a father’s words can deliver his daughter through this gauntlet of institutionalized shame and into a deep, unshakeable sense of her own worthiness and beauty.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n He concludes by asking, “Where are you the most beautiful? On the inside.” The article is worth reading, bookmarking, printing to share. A Mighty Girl also posted links to resources on their Facebook page; I’m sharing them here:<\/p>\n To help girls understand more about the impact of the media messages they encounter related to beauty and body image, check out “All Made Up: A Girl\u2019s Guide to Seeing Through Celebrity Hype to Celebrate Real Beauty<\/a>” for ages 10 to 14 and “Body Drama<\/a>” for ages 15 and up.<\/p>\n For a diverse selection of body image-related books for Mighty Girls of all ages focused on fostering a positive self-image, visit our \u201cBody Image<\/a>\u201d section.<\/p>\n For books for parents that address body image issues, including the helpful guide “101 Ways to Help Your Daughter Love Her Body,” visit our “Body Image \/ Self-Esteem<\/a>” parenting section.<\/p>\n And, to learn about a few of our favorite books that celebrate the special father-daughter bond, visit our post “A Father\u2019s Love: A Mighty Girl Celebrates Fathers<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n And to reinforce the message (and because it’s a fun song), I’m sharing Inside here.