Growing up I remember asking my mom if I was pretty. Her reply back to me was "pretty is as pretty does". I hadn't thought about that line in years until I was reading with a my reading group kids.
I was reading the book Cindy Ellen (a Western version of Cinderella). For all the teachers out there the genre of the month is Fairy Tales, Tall Tales and Folk Tales so I was reading different versions of Cinderella. Cindy Ellen's fairy godmother told Cindy Ellen that "pretty is as pretty does". I told the group that I could make a "connection" to this story (yet another teacher term) because that's what my mom would tell me. A particularly sweet girl in the group raised her hand with a big smile on her face and said her mom had said the same thing!
Do other moms say this to their daughters? I hope so. It's amazing how many ads are out there and everything our kids are exposed to. What did your parents teach you about beauty?
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5 comments:
My mom constantly told us we were beautiful. I like that she focused on our actions and character to emphasize our beauty, over our looks.
That video gave me chills! I'm going to share it on FB. Thanks for posting it.
I sat here for a few minutes and thought about your post... my parents never emphasized beauty to us. I remember that my grandparents always said how pretty we were and I hated it. It annoyed me that they seemed to value my looks more than me as a person. I can honestly say that I never gave much thought to my looks until I was in college. I was really lucky to feel confident about myself based on who I was and not how I looked.
I know without a doubt in my mind that my mom loves me and thinks I'm beautiful. With that said, my mom didn't tell me I was pretty often. I was always a little pudgy growing up and she had no problem telling me I needed to lose weight. She hurt my feeling and broke my heart more than she will ever know. I'm a strong enough person that I never let it change my opinion of myself. But I know there are a lot of girls and women who aren't that lucky.
To be honest I don't ever specifically remember wondering if I was pretty or not. The focus for me was always on my intelligence. My parents knew I was pretty gifted and always told me that "To those much is given, much is expected." I suppose this is along the same lines...
I have never heard this saying before! I love it and will definitely start using it..
Thanks for your support this week! I will be back to blogging regularly soon.
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