Last week, Madeline was telling me about a conversation she was having with a fellow flower girl at The Sister-in-Law’s recent wedding. She said the flower girl said, “My mom looks so sexy in that dress.”
And Madeline told me that she thought, “You haven’t seen my mom.” But decided that wouldn’t be very nice to say and kept the thought to herself.
And then she turned to me and said, “I mean, look at you, mom! You’re sexy!”
Hearing the word sexy come out of her mouth never fails to bring a smile to my face.
But that’s just the thing … and it so speaks to the importance of embracing the camera with your kids. Their perception of you is not always the same as your perception of you. They don’t see wrinkles. Grey hair. A few extra pounds. A make-up free face. Years of sleep deprivation. Or whatever it is that you see that keeps you from getting in front of the camera.
In fact, just the other day Madeline commented on my blonde hair while she was, ahem, styling it. And it’s so not blonde. It’s very decidedly grey (time for a touch-up!).
When they see pictures of you, they see you. Love. Warmth. Kindness. Comfort.
How about making that a resolution this year? Being intentional on getting more pictures of you with your kids and the ones you love?
*linking up with Emily for her weekly Embrace the Camera feature
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I love that girl, and you for instilling this sense of beauty in her. And you ARE sexy my dear. :)
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This is one area we differ. If I died today, you probably couldn’t find 5 pictures of me with both of my kids and if you added pictures of me and only one child or the other, you probably wouldn’t find 20 pictures. Mainly because I take the pictures, I’m very bad at taking enough pictures in general these days (I have almost no pictures from this past Christmas or Nick’s last birthday party), and I’m in the habit of moving away when cameras come out. I am not photogenic at all and avoiding the camera keeps my self-confidence up to a liveable level.
I hear you, and completely agree. I am still the one behind the camera 95% of the time because it’s the only way to ensure we get lots and lots of pictures. And when I’m doing something with the kids and want to be in the shot, I don’t always have someone to hand the camera off to. I’m not shy about giving the camera to a stranger to get the picture, but then I also know that I won’t always get the picture I want (angle/lighting/whatever). And I totally hear you on the photogenic thing, or lack thereof. I don’t think I’m photogenic at all (my sister is heaps more), but it’s something I’ve had to learn to live with simply because I hate the thought of them looking through their albums years down the line and not seeing us as a family. Sometimes it means taking 30 pictures until there’s one I like, sometimes I get lucky. All part of the process.
I thought the post was going to be about young girls even knowing what the word sexy means! I mean, do they know?
Can’t speak for all of them, but Madeline has definitely heard the word (tv, radio, certainly from her fellow flower girl, wherever) and asked me what it meant some months back. I went with “when you feel attractive and are attractive to others.” Tried to keep it simple given the age.