My daughter likes to make bracelets out of anything shaped like a ring. If it can be slid onto her wrist to dangle and spin, it becomes a “pretty”.
At twenty months old, this seems to be her first recognition of beauty. The first thing she has ever used to adorn herself, to show off to us as if to say, “Don’t I look pretty?” Of course she does. She has bright eyes, a smile full of dimples and skin that glows. She doesn’t need any bracelet, fashioned or not, to make her look beautiful. She just is.
Looking at her, I wonder how we ever decided makeup was something we needed to wear to accentuate our looks. When we look at our young daughters, we know they are beautiful. We don’t look at them and think “Wow, she would be beautiful if we could just bring out those eyes a little.” So what age is it then that we suddenly look at ourselves in the mirror and think “if I could just…”?
It is too early to tell if she will be a tomboy, or if I will be begged for highlights, tanning and makeup. Too early to tell if we will battle over trends, styles, the latest “must-haves” for hair and makeup. I was never a very “girly” girl growing up, but I’ve made my peace whatever life and my daughter throw my way. I will teach her what she wants to know, but lessons in beauty aren’t limited to lip gloss and blush.
I will teach her to follow clothing trends as long as she walks confidently enough that she wears the clothes and not the other way around.
I will teach her how to style her hair, as long as she realizes how beautiful it is the way nature made it.
I will teach her to curl her lashes, but also to only bat them at boys who will look past them to see the girl behind the pretty face.
I will teach her about eye shadow, while doing my best to help her avoid a life that creates the shadows around her eyes that do not wash away.
Because what I hope most to teach her about beauty is that it is the warmth of her smile, the laughter in her eyes and the kindness in her words that is where true beauty lies.
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