Beautiful

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It's April in our house, which means we are in the thick of Garden Tour mania. Each year, we participate in a local, wonderful tour of native plant gardens. It's been incredibly busy around here as we prepare four of Rick's gardens (gardens he designed and installed) to be showcased this coming Sunday. It's nutty. I'm even busier than usual, and that, my friends, is saying somethin'.

I have many posts rattling around in my head, including:

  • Easter Sunday or How We Ended Up in the ER with Our Six-Year Old and Almost Lost Our Two-Year Old

  • The Cynic in Me

  • Musings on Youth Sports

But there is no time; these ideas will have to wait. What I DO have time for is a little anecdote about beauty.

I am raising three daughters. I want them to grow up knowing a few things about beauty: that they are beautiful and that beauty is so much more than what the culture tells us it is, that they are beautiful because of who they are, not because they fit some external definition of what is attractive. We talk about beauty quite a bit -- beauty in nature, beauty in a photograph of Mother Theresa's gnarled hands, beauty in a small girl playing in the mud with tangles in her hair and laughter spilling from her.

So it's no surprise to me that my 4-year old has been thinking about beauty. It was, however, a bit of surprise when today she pulled down her underwear, gave me an eyeful, and said "Mom, is my vagina beautiful?"

It's absolutely wonderful that she is asking these questions and exploring these ideas. But she is such an extrovert that I must admit to being a wee bit frightened for her teen and young adult years.

Oh my.

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Comments

Viv said…
Oh man, I such a better boy mom.
29 April, 2009 00:56
Teacher Mommy said…
You and Beth Fish (http://www.sothefishsaid.com/2009/04/not_quite_what_i_meant_to_say.html) are seriously doomed. I'm getting quite happy to be a mother of sons only.
29 April, 2009 04:54
Karen said…
According to the Vagina Monologues, E. is right on!! The best monologue is when women/girls of all ages are asked if their vagina could wear clothes, how would it dress? CLASSIC! I bet E. would have some good choices, like the little girl who vagina would wear high tops...

Keep on keeping it real, Mon. Us moms of boys are depending on you moms of girls to raise them feeling beautiful everywhere!
29 April, 2009 10:07
Momo Fali said…
That? Is beautiful! (And, hilarious!)
01 May, 2009 14:44
Sarah said…
Hi Monica. Stop by my blog when you have a minute. I gave you a blog award thing ;-)
14 May, 2009 16:42
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