Did you see our Dadtalk Editor Faith on BBC Breakfast last Friday? She was there not to talk about DadTalk, but to talk about being tall! Yep, BBC Breakfast spent 10 minutes talking about tall girls because Barack Obama’s oldest daughter, Malia, is already 5’9
What I took away from watching Faith was the stuff she talked about in the last two minutes of her interview. Susanna Reid asked Faith if she had any advice for Malia and other tall girls like her, and she responded by explaining that it took her 25 years to learn that most women want to be whatever they’re not.
Faith explained that she grew up wanting to be “short and cute and petite”, but that she later realized her short friends wanted to be tall and statuesque – like her. What she wants for Malia and for all young girls, she said, is for them to understand that they’re perfect, and absolutely beautiful, just the way they are.
In an age where so many girls – even those as young as 12 – are contemplating cosmetic surgery before they have even reach puberty, and where the media bombards girls with unrealistic images of beauty, it was great to hear some good old-fashioned wisdom.
It reminded me of a snippet from one of our Sofa Talk films where a lady talks about how she has never struggled with hatred towards her body image because her dad was always so positive about her looks, even when she struggled with her weight. As dads we have such an important part to play in how our daughters see themselves and how confident they become.
What are you doing to reinforce your daughter’s healthy body image?
