A Favor

[jocelina]

I have a favor to ask of you all

Comments

[mangofandango]

This is awesome and I love you for saying it. <3

[jocelina]

Thank you. :)

[geminigirl]

See if you can find Allison Slater Tate's essay "The Mom stays in the picture." (I may have messed up the title or her middle name, but you should have enough correct information to find it.)

One thing that helped me was to remind myself that I'm teaching my daughters about bodily autonomy, and if I can't teach them to appreciate their bodies (even if they don't love them, and let's be honest here, we don't love our bodies all the time,) then I negate part of the lesson on autonomy. If you can't appreciate it, it makes it harder to speak up and own it because you may not find the value in it. You've clearly outlined the things that you value here-spending time with people you care about, creating that happy memory and loving the moment you're in.

[jocelina]

I think that's a really good point. I think always loving one's body is a tall order, but appreciating it is a more realistic (and in some ways maybe even a more helpful) approach.

And thank you -- that was a wonderful read. I know my own mom went through a period where she didn't feel great about how she looked but she still made an effort to be in pictures with us. Now that she's ill, I am so incredibly glad that we have those photos.

[viellen]

By the by, I loved seeing that photo of you on FB, and I also love this post. :)

[eyelid]

Lol, I thought that picture was adorable ;)

[patrickwonders]

Yay!