Squishy has definitely started the transition out of being a little kid lately, and it's been reminding me of a lot of things. Either that, or it's really funny.
On the more humorous side, one day, I was in the shower at night, and she knocks on the door. She needed to use the bathroom, and wanted to pop in while I was finishing showering. I had no problem with it, and didn't find it weird, so I let her in. After stalling for an extra minute or so in the hot water, I got out of the shower, and she was still in the bathroom.
As I grabbed my towel, expecting it to be the normal thing is usually is, she covered up her face. I asked what was up, and she said she didn't want to see me naked. I asked if she hit the age where that was weird finally, and she said yes. I asked if that was the case, if she would stop bothering me to take a shower with me. She was quiet. I told her she couldn't have both, and she told me to wear a swim suit in the shower. My kid is weird.
However, in the last couple weeks she's been saying that she's unhappy with her body, and that she doesn't like parts of it, and that she isn't cute anymore. Saying she doesn't want to be cute because only babies are cute, or saying she isn't cute anymore because she is getting older, and that she has a tummy.
And while this is horrible that my nine year old is already having body image issues, it makes me think about how I thought of myself at that age.
We're built fairly similarly, though I remember at her age, already having a very heavy hourglass shape. I remember acknowledging the fact that I had curves and a waist, and that would make me attractive.
This was of course, back when I thought about what made me attractive to others, which didn't last terribly long, with only small periods of it poking back up.
In many ways though, I celebrated my body as a kid. There were issues I had, which I've since gotten over, but there are so many things that I enjoyed about my body that when I think about them now have only gotten stronger, or more pronounced, and I should learn to celebrate them more.
Maybe, I need to learn from my ten year old self, and use that to help teach my nine year old daughter.
On the more humorous side, one day, I was in the shower at night, and she knocks on the door. She needed to use the bathroom, and wanted to pop in while I was finishing showering. I had no problem with it, and didn't find it weird, so I let her in. After stalling for an extra minute or so in the hot water, I got out of the shower, and she was still in the bathroom.
As I grabbed my towel, expecting it to be the normal thing is usually is, she covered up her face. I asked what was up, and she said she didn't want to see me naked. I asked if she hit the age where that was weird finally, and she said yes. I asked if that was the case, if she would stop bothering me to take a shower with me. She was quiet. I told her she couldn't have both, and she told me to wear a swim suit in the shower. My kid is weird.
However, in the last couple weeks she's been saying that she's unhappy with her body, and that she doesn't like parts of it, and that she isn't cute anymore. Saying she doesn't want to be cute because only babies are cute, or saying she isn't cute anymore because she is getting older, and that she has a tummy.
And while this is horrible that my nine year old is already having body image issues, it makes me think about how I thought of myself at that age.
We're built fairly similarly, though I remember at her age, already having a very heavy hourglass shape. I remember acknowledging the fact that I had curves and a waist, and that would make me attractive.
This was of course, back when I thought about what made me attractive to others, which didn't last terribly long, with only small periods of it poking back up.
In many ways though, I celebrated my body as a kid. There were issues I had, which I've since gotten over, but there are so many things that I enjoyed about my body that when I think about them now have only gotten stronger, or more pronounced, and I should learn to celebrate them more.
Maybe, I need to learn from my ten year old self, and use that to help teach my nine year old daughter.
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