Our daughters are under a lot of pressure today. They are bombarded with beauty standards that can make them feel inferior.
Here are my thoughts on what’s being said to young women and what we need to say to them instead.
The World’s Message
Everything around young women—social media, advertisements—sends a message about beauty standards. You need to look a certain way. You need to dress a certain way. You need to talk a certain way. It’s an unfortunate message. It says that beauty is strictly physical: the clothes you wear, the car you drive.
Our Message
We can do a better job as parents by affirming our daughters.As fathers, we have to send a different message to our daughters—the message that they are beautiful because of what’s inside them. They’re beautiful because of how God has created them. They don’t have to look to the world for authenticity. We can do a better job as parents by affirming our daughters, by telling them their personality and internal makeup makes them beautiful in God’s eyes. We have to do what we can to help our girls feel accepted and not to feel like they have to look to the world for validation.
Sound off: In what ways can you affirm your daughter’s beauty?
Huddle up with your daughter and ask, “What does beauty mean to you?”