Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Modesty

Today, Petey held a bunny. This is a HUGE breakthrough for the girl who is afraid of all things animal. And nobody told her to hold it, she asked to. I was confused, surprised, and happy. Maybe we should've gotten a bunny instead of a turtle.

Oh yeah, by the way, we have a turtle. His name is Wrex. We like him a lot but I am afraid of him. This should be a completely different post but because I'm tired and slightly loopy, I'm going to tell you right now.

Here we go:

Tonight, I searched all over for Wrex. He didnt finish his dinner and I wanted to make sure he was ok. After 20 minutes of searching, I thought he was lost forever. {seriously, that is not added dramatic effect} I was on my hands and knees under the trampoline, preparing myself to meet him face to face under there, when I heard some boxes move at the corner of our house. Hmm...Wrex? Indeed, he had manuevered himself under these boxes, wedged himself between a trash can and the brick wall, and a metal frame had fallen on him. Oh yeah, we are such great pet owners! But then I had a dilemma. I was NOT picking him up. No sirree! I am afraid of a 10 inch turtle. Awesome...well, mostly embarrassing. I actually called my friend in the neighborhood who also has turtles and asked if her husband could come save Wrex. He did.

Wrex is fine. I am a wuss. The end.

Back to the point...have we made a point yet? Petey is my one and only daughter right now. From the beginning, I knew I wanted her to have her ears pierced, I didnt care if my baby wore sleeveless, and I was SO going to put her in baby bikinis. And I did. When she was weeks old. Poor girl. It wasn't until she got a little bit older (maybe 18months-2years old?) that I started to care more. I stopped putting her in spaghetti straps and short shorts but I couldnt get rid of those darn baby bikinis. Seriously, adorable in my eyes. Not sexy, not flaunting, I just love those sweet pot bellies waddling around.

There is actually a picture of her on this blog from days ago where she is in a bikini. Pay no attention to that when reading this post---she hasnt gotten her new swimsuit for this year yet and all she owns is bikinis!

But when I put that bikini on her, I felt uncomfortable. I knew it was over. I've actually known for quite some time that I needed to buckle up. I bought her new Easter swimsuit a month or two ago and it is adorable...and modest. She wore some 18 month size shorts the other day {mostly because nothing else was clean} and they were way too short so we retired them.

So why does it matter? It matters because I love my daughter. And I love her more than I love her being popular. It matters because of THIS article. {seriously, you're going to want to read that...10 of my Facebook friends posted it today} And it matters because I care about her body. Fact: Her body is a temple. As is mine. As is yours.


The point? The title of the article, "Parents, don't dress your girls like tramps."


Because if we stop buying, the stores stop selling.


End. Of. Story.

3 comments:

Alicia Fish said...

That article was amazing. And Suzanne, I think there is a theme going on in some of our lives. Our bodies are temples. I was asked a question the other day about temples. Do you know what they do to the temple to prepare it for you? I'm like ummm no, I prepare myself for the temple, not the temple prepared for me right? WRONG! The temple workers have a prayer (kinda obvious) AND a moment of silence at the beginning of each of their shifts! They are also monitored to make sure they are taking enough breaks so they can be alert, and fully energized. So are we taking care of our temples in the same way? It has given me a ton of food for thought. Do we have moments of silence at the start of our shifts, do we take the breaks that we need, are we praying over ourselves.....Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Love you!

Andrea Phillips said...

That's awesome Suz. I just read that same article yesterday, and I've been talking to my friends about it ever since! So true, and so important. People are way more worried about making their kids look "cute" than what other people are thinking (like creepy pedofiles!) because of the way that child is dressed. And I sure hope that most parents would not want their kids to grow up dressing that way when they actually have a lot to flaunt! So sad.

Kate Weber said...

This is a really great post. I think modesty is very important and I think it's good that you're instilling those morals in your daughter. :)

I'm new to your blog! I found you through FTLOB and can't wait to read more! Feel free to check out my blog as well. :)

Simply Kate