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My 8-year-old thinks she’s ugly. She told me about her uneven eyes (which she actually measured as I watched in horror), the weird looks she gets from the kids in her class, and how her missing-tooth smile is “creepy.”
And it broke my heart. I couldn’t imagine how this big bundle of adorableness began to feel this way about herself—and felt like we had failed her somehow.
And it became quickly apparent how we had. “When we get home,” she said, “I want us to look at the pictures in the catalogs and magazines.” Bingo.
After working in the media for so many years, I take it for granted that people know that any final image they see in an ad or on a magazine cover has been extensively manipulated.
I’ve seen first hand how a lovely model is given hours’ worth of professional hair and makeup, and photographed under ideal lighting conditions by top professionals—and it’s still not enough.
Read the full story at Helping My Daughter Have a Positive Self Image
