She found there were resources out there for tweens and teenagers but younger girls were overlooked. It's not uncommon for kids to be made fun of for what they are wearing or how they look as early as kindergarten now. I have a 7 year old little sister and have noticed this to be true. I wasn't sure if some of the things she learns are from a bad set of friends or what, but after talking with moms at MOPS, I realized this is how things are everywhere these days.
Anyway, Lisa believes you should practice displaying good character just like you practice anything else you want to be good at. So, she created a series of books that gives a girl the opportunity to read about girls her age and work through the decisions she is making right along with her. They are great for kids to read with an adult and discuss.
One of the books is about a girl who has to decide between a sleepover of her best friend or the biggest party of the year thrown by the popular girl at school. The other book is about a girl who decides she wants to be popular so she starts hiking up her shirt to show her midriff and wearing makeup to school (at a very young age).
Needless to say, as soon as we had a free minute, I ran over and snatched the books so I could give them to my little sister. I am looking forward to reading them with her. The whole morning really opened my eyes to how different things are from even when I was little. I don't remember being made fun of or worrying about what I looked like until 6th grade. I seriously think Shelby felt the pressure to worry about this sort of thing by age 4. Everything around girls today tells them they aren't good enough and aren't pretty enough.
Lisa goes around to schools, Girl Scout groups and so forth to share her message and books. She promotes the Dove website because of their Campaign for Real Beauty. Check out the Evolution video here. It's pretty crazy what the truth is about how much hair, makeup and Photoshop goes into making someone ready for print.
Lisa does a lot of discussing with her children and has taught them a lot about appropriate dress for their age. After they went to Toys R Us one year so her kids could make Christmas lists, her daughter cried realizing none of the dolls were appropriate. They walked up and down the aisle and they all had cleavage, fishnet stockings, stilettos or midriffs showing. She was shocked and frustrated and so she launched a doll line to go along with the books.
I appreciated what I learned and wanted to pass the info along in case anyone else out there is looking for resources for teaching young girls good character. Do you know of any good resources? How do or did you teach your daughters about inner beauty?
While they don't necessarily fall into the beauty category, the Meghan Rose series by Lori Scott is another great set of books for young girls. They are the Christian version of Junie B. Jones. Nothing against Junie B., but she does tend to be overly sassy and as my 7 year old said, "She says the 's word' and the 'd word' and the 'sh word'." You know...stupid, dumb, and shut up. :) H read the 8 books in the Meghan Rose series really quickly and loved the life-application lessons she learned while reading. One of the books talks about Meghan wanting the name brand shoes like all her friends (I think it was shoes...you'll have to ask H if I'm right!).
ReplyDeletehttp://www.meghanroseseries.com/
Rachel-
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing I have a niece that will be 9 in a couple of weeks; thinking the book and doll would make a great birthday gift. Heading to Valley Junction tomorrow to check it out.
Jackie