I never talk about my own body or other people’s bodies negatively. I don’t comment on size, weight, etc. My kids know that if they have questions, they can ask me anything. But we don’t need to compare/contrast bodies outside of the goodness that God gave each one of us.
I’m doing my best to teach them the JOY of movement, not exercise. We don’t talk about movement as a way to burn calories or “lose weight” but instead as a way to train our bodies for life, as enjoyment, fun, and even worship to the God who created our bodies and movement itself.
There are no good or bad foods – food is neutral, and God created it for both fuel and pleasure. Food has different nutritional qualities, and by tuning IN to our bodies, we can discover what fuels us well for the work He’s given us.
I remind them that their bodies are supposed to grow (and will change in different seasons of life) and take up space in this world. Our goal is not to shrink down or be the smallest. Our goal is to live into the God-given uniqueness we each are given, knowing that we each bear His image in this world beautifully.
We embrace individuality in our femininity. I have one daughter who loves all the girly things and another who leans more “tomboy.” I have some tendencies towards both, though I love feminine details. I try not to push them towards something they don’t like but instead hope to teach them how to learn what they individually love and feel most comfortable with.
As a mom raising 3 girls in the current culture, I know that they have and will continue to receive a constant stream of lies and images telling them they’re not good enough. Who can compare to a million images that are altered to look like “perfection”…whatever that even is?
Here’s what you can do – find freedom yourself. If you struggle with this, no doubt your girls are seeing this too. Your freedom will be the biggest influence that they can receive. Free people set other people free.
So take captive the lies, mama. Take up some space. Move in joy. Eat in kindness. Declare your body GOOD. Not tomorrow, not in a month, TODAY.
