Teaching Self Love

Teaching Self Love

by LV Burns of Natural-ness

This article was originally posted on September 3, 2007, a few weeks before my daughter (now almost 3) was born. I still believe in its message, so I wanted to share it again:

In a few short weeks, I will be the mother of a little girl. I feel honored to have the opportunity to raise a future mother, wife, sister, friend, business woman, etc. But I often think about what I want to teach her as she grows.

The most important things that I want her to take away from our household as she grows into a woman, is a high self-confidence and self-esteem. Whether she comes out with a brown, dark or light complexion; Or if her hair comes out curly, kinky or wavy; Even if she inherits the family’s thin or chubby genes; I want her to love herself just the way she is.

When she walks out into the world, even as a little girl, I want her to have a defense against whatever society’s current standard of beauty is. I don’t want her to care if the current videos on BET feature light-skinned or dark-skinned models, or if all of the current female singers and performers have straight hair past their behinds. My prayer is that she walks around as if she has set the new standard of beauty. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want her to have a cocky attitude, just a deep love of God and all the gifts and beauty that he has given her.

You may ask, why am I sharing this right now? Well ladies, we all know that all of us were not raised to love ourselves for who we are, no matter what we are. Of course, some of us were, but I want to address those who were not right now. I just want you to know, that even if you were not given the tools of a high self-esteem and self-confidence when growing up, it is never too late to find or develop these tools for yourself. And more important than that, if you are a mother, aunt or grandmother to a young child or even a teenager, you have the opportunity to instill these things into that child or teen. Our children need these gifts more than ever, especially our little girls. Please ladies, take the time to give it to them (and yourself). Take care and God Bless!