http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei6JvK0W60I
a dove film (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei6JvK0W60I)that drives the point home

What age did you start ripping yourself apart over your appearance or weight? It was 12 for me. Now it's usually... what age.. 8..9..10? [thumbsdown]

lecture from a four year old (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fULtU2NfPQA)

I dont have a little girl but I do have nieces...and what is up with the miniture adult clothes??? its so hard for me to buy them clothes now because its like they sell clothes that is more for teenager girls but sized smaller for 5,6,7yr olds? and the 6yr old niece does not like disney princesses anymore because she has outgrown it??? what??? anway lol I think I am going off topic, I was a late bloomer so I didnt really start caring about my appearance until highschool so about 14yrs old, I didnt worry about being fat but being to skinny lol just because I was called toothepick and olive oil and tweezers(have long legs lol) so being skinny wasnt beautiful to me because to the world I was disgusting(thats what I thought) but I was real active so no matter how much I ate I just never could gain it but I can honestly say now I do NOT have that problem lmbo

Ya, one of my good friends was the class toothpick and I was developed early... so everyone around me had boyish prepub figures. Neither of us could win with our female peers, lol. If you google thinspo, thinspiration, proana... oh my.... I suspect I would have been one of the legion of girls in that e-movement if it had been available back then. I did get a book from the library that recommended under 1000 calories a day... as a 6th grader I took that advice and starting yo-yo'ing for as long as I could manage (until I was faint and sick). I think I could have been 5'6"+ IF I had eaten properly! I got stuck at 5'4". Note to any girls that stumble upon this.. it stunted my growth. I am the same height today that I was at 12-14! I don't think it had to be that way!

Seems all the pressure is more in one's face these days...and sooner.

I know. It breaks my heart! I look at the clothes they have BABIES, not just young girls, but baby girls... high heels, glam, and all sorts of stuff that just, imo, isn't appropriate. It's sad.

For me, I was an earlier developer too... 6th grade, so 12 when I got my period. I was the first of my friends and I hated that. I remember in jr. high/middle school that my body was quite different than the other girls there. The other girls often commented on my 'big boobs' and curves. I don't remember liking it much. I suppose if I didn't have bad acne I could have taken it the other way and fed into it more. But I didn't want any attention on me since I was so embarrassed about my skin. :/

ETA: I think it's great that Dove is doing this ad campaign. Although, it's sad we've gotten to the point in society where we need our soap/beauty companies to remind us to talk to our daughters about who they are. :(

I'm no great beauty, but I don't remember ripping myself up about my appearance. I guess my parents gave me enough confidence. I do remember walking home from jr. high maybe and thinking that my hands were too big for my arms. :-D

I also remember others, "helping". One boy in 6th grade said I "wasn't cute, but had a good personality" (which is just what you want to hear in 6th grade). I think I began to figure out in 7th grade that if you were cute and stylish, you were "in". And I went through some bad (read ugly) years from 7th-10th grade where I was horribly aware of my appearance and what was wrong with it i.e. pimples, curly hair in a long blonde surfer girl society, braces.... :???:

Few more thoughts:

Another thing. When our kids were young, we didn't have a tv so our daughter wasn't bombarded with images of what she "should" look like. She does lament her blue glasses and some of the long dresses I had her wear, though. :-D

We thought she was beautiful and she has become a beautiful young woman. (Even someone apparently beautiful, though, could recite their flaws.) But...never did we want her to think that outward beauty was the important thing. I didn't like people gushing over her to her face. When a child is too aware of their beauty, they become self-centered.

I keep thinking of this quote:

"I am a princess. All girls are. Even if they live in tiny old attics. Even if they dress in rags, even if they aren't pretty, or smart, or young. They're still princesses. All of us. Didn't your father ever tell you that? Didn't he?"

~ Frances Hodgson Burnett, from A little Princess

Thank you, Rachel, for starting this thread. Very timely topic to think about, especially parents with precious little girls.

A book that is wonderful about some of the themes in this thread (beauty, how girls deeply desire to be seen as beautiful, relationship between a girl and her parents) is Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge. I love how they communicate that women being created in God's image shows the beautiful, more gentle side of our Father. The book about men, by John, that parallels this one is Wild at Heart and talks about the Warrior side of God, fighting for righteousness and good.

I agree so strongly with the comments that have been made about girls' clothing. This is probably a little overboard, but I do not really want my daughter even wearing spaghetti straps in the summer. (At least, not without something short sleeved underneath.) I generally do not dress like this, just more modest in what I prefer to wear. A whole different topic that could become controversial, I know, but since men can be aroused through sight so much more than women, I just personally think it's best to err on the modest side.

I also think that it is important for little girls to know that their Daddy thinks that they are beautiful - not just in a physical sense but as a person. I have also heard that how a girl views herself is often strongly linked to how her mother views herself. Even as very little girls they are watching us closely to learn how to be a woman. When they see us putting ourselves down and being generally dissatisfied with the way God created us - they subconsiously absorb this in relation to themselves. I really believe that this happens - I have seen it.

[amenamen] They are watching every. thing. we do.

When our kids were young, we didn't have a tv so our daughter wasn't bombarded with images of what she "should" look like.

We do not have cable and I hope it stays that way! Or at least, if we ever do decide to get cable that it will be on so infrequently and that we will be extra cautious about the things that are seen on it, commericals included...

I didn't like people gushing over her to her face. When a child is too aware of their beauty, they become self-centered.

Oh, my, Madre... I could not agree more. Our BABY girl was getting tons of compliments at church recently on how beautiful she is... which in one sense is nice, but I wrote on FB that I hope someday she gets just as many compliments on her character.

I keep thinking of this quote:

"I am a princess. All girls are. Even if they live in tiny old attics. Even if they dress in rags, even if they aren't pretty, or smart, or young. They're still princesses. All of us. Didn't your father ever tell you that? Didn't he?"

~ Frances Hodgson Burnett, from A little Princess

So, so true. Our daughters need to know and understand that we are children of THE KING!