I received a free copy of The Self-Love Revolution: Radical Body Positivity for Girls of Color in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Self Love:
I’ve shared a few times on the blog how I’ve gone through my own journey of self-love. It’s not a one size fit all and there is no magic pill that immediately makes you love yourself. It’s a process. A slow process but never the less, one that we all need to be constantly working on not only for ourselves, but our children as well. Body shaming happens more than we care to admit and as a Mother, I want to teach my own children the importance of loving ourselves exactly as we are.
Recently I was gifted a book to read and learn more about how we internalize self-love. The novel is called The Self-Love Revolution: Radical Body Positivity for Girls of Color. While my daughter and I are Caucasian, I thought this is a great eye-opener for her to view various races and genders that the novel shows. Tovar’s approach of decoding what the ‘ideal’ beauty standard is, I also want to show and teach my own child body positivity and self love every single day as she grows. How can we do this as parents you might ask? I have a few tips to help.
Just Be You
This is so much easier said than done. Being yourself is a hard thing to come by, especially with social media trying to tear all of us down for our unique talents. I tell my daughter to ignore the self-doubt and love her fun, creative and outspoken self. While my daughter doesn’t have any social media account of her own yet, we talk about how if certain people are not making her feel her best, to stop being friends with them. The same goes for social media. If you are feeling down about yourself or uninspired, stop following those who keep belittling you to be something you aren’t. Set boundaries and know when to let go.
One of the best things that Tovar discusses in this book is talking with our friends about our bodies and how we feel in them. It shouldn’t be so hard to say ” I love my legs and how strong they are”. It should be easy to talk with our friends, family and loved ones about how we’re feeling so don’t try to keep it a secret.
All Shades Are Beautiful:
This is such a helpful tool to teach not only ourself but our children as well. It doesn’t matter if you have light skin, dark skin or somewhere in between. Everyone’s shade of color is beautiful and should be celebrated.
” The idea that lighter features are more beautiful stems from the idea that dark people are inferior and common, while lighter people are superior and rare. We have been taught to see things like straight hair and light eyes as better, but the truth is that all hair types, all skin colors, all body shapes and sizes, and all eye colors are equally awesome! ” Tovar exclaims in her novel.
This could not be more true and something my daughter and I discuss as often as we can. When we lived in Atlanta for a few years, my daughter was around 2 1/2 and had 2 best friends who were African American. The Mom’s and I would love how the three of them laughed, talked and were so care free about the color of their skin, but just adored one another’s personality. That’s how it should still be today.
As a parent, this really helped me not only see my own self worth but how I can assist my children to find theirs as well. Again this isn’t something that can happen overnight. However, if we continue to be open minded, have open communication about discussing these issues and how we feel and have an open heart to love everyone around us, then we are doing our job to teach our kids the importance of loving everyone, regardless of their shade of color.
Beauty Is An Idea You Can Imagine:
I loved this! Not everything looks beautiful to everyone. What you think is beautiful may be the opposite that someone else thinks and vs. versa. What matters to you most? Is art something you find compelling and just soothing? That’s beautiful to you. Do you love to put on makeup every day and come up with various ways to make your eyes pop? That’s beautiful too. Beauty changes all the time too. As my daughter grows, I want her to remember that beauty doesn’t have to be our skin color, the makeup we wear, or the clothes we have on. Beauty is all around us. It’s the little things such as waking up in a comfortable bed, eating breakfast, and snuggling close with those who mean the most to us. I think we can all agree that those are something we can take for granted on a daily basis.
Conclusion
As a parent, our only hope is to teach and help our teach about the world around them. This starts by loving and working on their own self love and ours as well. This book can really help people understand their worth, their value and above all, the realization that we are all beautiful in our own skin.
If you are interested in winning your own copy of The Self Love Revolution: Radical Body Positivity For Girls of Color please enter below!
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How do you hope to encourage your child to love themselves as they grow?
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