You Are Wonderful And Marvelously Made...Encourage And Teach Your Children To Appreciate,Celebrate And Take Care Of Their Bodies

Parents please, please, and please, don't allow another entity(television, magazines, video games, the school system or  peers,etc...) dictated how your children perceive themselves. Make it your mission to be the one and make sure you equip yourself to do it correctly.  Therefore, teach your kids to love what God has created, and that they are unique and not to look or be like very one else.  Tell them that: ' You Are Wonderful And Marvelously Made.  Encourage and teach your children (and it is never to late to teach yourself), to appreciate, celebrate and take care of the bodies God has given them.


If only my mother knew what parents are learning now.  I said this because unbeknown to herself, she did a lot of damage when it came to how her children saw themselves when they looked into the mirror.  It wasn't until I  began to clean my mind with how God viewed me... (all of us), that I was able to accept who I was designed to look like and be.


Don't get me wrong.  My mother was an awesome mother.  She was a housewife who made her whole life perfecting her children to be "SOMEBODY".  She invested a lot of her time with our studies so we would do well on our SAT, in hopes we would look good on paper to receive scholarships for school (and two us received them, my brother and I).  But remember, your goals may not be your children goals and sometimes your agenda will backfire.  Realize we all should be on God's agenda of becoming who He called  us to be, and not on someone's agenda. Instead, it would be wiser to help everyone discover their God given potential and help them push forward in that particular area.


And  by God's grace and mercy I am not angry with my mother, but love her more today.  She knew not what she was doing.  In fact, she was just as critical and  obsessed with her appearance as she was with ours.  As an adult I am now empowered to understand clearly her reasoning and freed to not own it.  I understand we  were her little trophies and represented her.  We had to be a cut above what she considered perfection.  She meant no harm, for my mother loves her children greatly.  However,  her constant comments about whatever physical attribute she thought substandard, affected us...it affected how I saw myself when I looked in the mirror.


As woman I suffered from a eating disorder, bulimia.  I hated my athletic built and wanted to have a willowy... twiggy frame like the girls my mother admired in the magazine or on the movie screen.  So I went off into adulthood, thinking I am totally unattractive, though people would ask me to model.  And no matter how many times people would speak about my attractiveness, I just could not see what they were talking about.  Why?  Because my mother's voice within my heart was louder than the compliments of strangers. By God's grace I no longer suffer from an eating disorder, nor do I think about whether or not I'm attractive.  Now I focus on obtaining and maintaining a beautiful spirit...heart and staying physically youthful, fit and healthy to be able to fulfill my God-given purpose.  How about you?


So be empowered with the wisdom to say and make the right choices for yourself and children to live not just a longer life span, but a healthier one.  Your kids look up to you and emulate your own habits. That means that whatever lifestyle you live, whether you smoke, eat healthy, watch too much TV or even complain about your appearance, your kids will likely grow up doing the same.


Body image is how a person sees herself in the mirror, or the image of herself in her own head. It deals with what she believes, remembers, assumes and feels about her appearance and body. Adults and children can have either positive or negative body images. A negative image is distorted, causing a child to feel ashamed, embarrassed, or self-conscious about how they look. These feelings can lead to more serious problems, such as depression, anxiety, isolation or even eating disorders.


Now I will share with you some very sound information I read from a Spark Article to help your children enhance their own body image by starting with your own. Your children will see how you view your own body in a positive light and learn to do the same. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Stop picking yourself apart. Look at your body as a whole and appreciate all the positive attributes you have instead of focusing on the negative parts that you're unhappy with.
• Consider the marvelous functions of your body. There are millions of microscopic functions that go on in our bodies every day, and you don't even have to think about them. They just happen! How much time are you spending each day worrying about your weight, your body shape, the size of your rear? Maybe you're supposed to be the first female president, but you'll never know because you're too busy obsessing about your abs!
• Get real. Did you know that most of the images you see on television, movies and magazines aren't even real? A model for a magazine cover goes through hours of professional hair and make-up, top photographers, and professional lighting, and that's all before the chosen photo goes to a company where they remove stray hairs, wrinkles, blemishes and "extra" curves. Find real role models who emulate the qualities you desire.
• Change your inner dialogue. Don't speak to yourself in a negative way if you wouldn't speak to your friends, mother, or children that way. Choose to believe that you are worth taking care of and that you have the right to be respected and treated with dignity.
• Take care of your body. Diets, pills, quick-fixes, binging, not exercising, over-exercising--all these things disrespect one of the greatest gifts you have been given--your body! You only get one per lifetime, so give it the respect it deserves. You will not only feel better, but you'll be a more positive role model for your kids.

 So I hope this wonderful information is a blessing to you. I am no longer a prison to being obsessed with my the reflection in the mirror.  I no longer want to be twiggy thin.  I want to fit and healthy... the me... God designed me to be.  Yes,  God's Truth has empowered me to take the responsibility to apply truth to my life about myself and walk in the freedom, that we all are beautiful and wonderfully made.  And on that note mothers do encourage fathers or grandfathers to tell the little ones how special and beautiful they are.  Positive male role models are very important to boys and girls alike.  Doing so contributes to a healthy esteem and protects them from being gullible or deceived by flattering lips of a charmer.


Do have a Fit and Fabulous Day!
Love ya'll,
-Doll


Remember it is written:


Psalms 139:13-17


13) For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb.
 14)  I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
 15)  My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the  depths of the earth,
 16)  Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.
 17)  How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!