Being the mother of a beautiful daughter, I am determined to be a good role model for her and provide her as much information as I can to arm her for her future as a woman. Not to be inattentive to my son, I hope to show him the world of respecting women, as well.

I do not want my children to grow up with the idea that there is a predefined notion of beauty rather that beauty is open to interpretation. I struggled through high school trying to discover myself as beautiful. Little did I know if I would have stopped, smiled and accepted me for me, I would have had that glow of beauty I so longed for.

When the folks at Sourcebooks asked if I would participate in the I am Beautiful Blog Tour, I jumped at the chance! Self esteem and self acceptance were not my thing, until I met my husband. Through his eyes, I saw that I am beautiful. That and through the eyes of my children. I want my daughter and son to have that much sooner.

The following is an interview with the author, Woody Winfree, part of the I am Beautiful Blog Tour. It is an amazing collection of stories from an amazing group of girls.

We Are More Than Beautiful for teen girls is the latest addition to the work of the I Am Beautiful Project, an initiative committed to producing creative and educational works that encourage personal growth and discovery for women and girls of all ages.

Author, Woody Winfree says the project’s mission is simple: to create a world in which every woman and girl can proudly proclaim, “I AM BEAUTIFUL!”

What is the I Am Beautiful Project all about?

It is about changing the definition of beauty in our culture – one girl at a time, one woman at a time. Quite dramatically, the mass media has chipped away at our sense of beauty and well-being by presenting a singular, narrow and distorted image of female beauty: super-thin bodies, topped by large, perky breasts, with flawless youthful faces surrounded by shiny bouncy hair –and of course, sparkly white, perfectly straight teeth! This suggestion of beauty is not only wrong, it is a LIE. In truth, only three percent of the U.S. female population has the genetic makeup to look like this ideal. That means 97% of us are spending billions of dollars, untold hours of our lives and huge amounts of happiness in an attempt to pursue this distorted ideal.

In sum, the I Am Beautiful Project is about books and films, and workshops and seminars — and anything else I might think to create along the way – that help guide women and girls to change their perspective about the definition of beauty. Beauty is NOT the size of our waists, or the cascade of our hair. Rather, beauty is the sum of our talents, accomplishments, intellect, contribution to our families and communities, and every other measure of living a life that deeply matters.

Can the book be used by mothers with their daughters?

Absolutely! My hope is that mothers and daughters will read it together and use its stories as a springboard for ongoing conversations. Conversations about:

The true definition of beauty
How the culture distorts that definition – and why
Why a narrow, distorted definition is harmful
Who are the women and girls in our lives that we find most beautiful – and do they embody the cultural ideal of beauty – or a deeper, more meaningful definition?
How we can enjoy the fun and frivolity, even the consumerism, of American life without buying into notion that we must alter our natural features in order to feel beautiful, make friends, get good grades, get ahead and on and on.

I encourage mothers and daughters to write their own essays together, to deeply contemplate what makes them beautiful, then write it down. Share it with one another. Put their written answer in a place where they see it every day – maybe next to their toothbrush, or on their nightstand. Read it again and again. Slowly, over time it is my promise that this simple act can have powerful results.

Why do you believe that naming our beauty is so essential?

When we give “voice” to anything, ascribe literal words to a thought or idea, a major shift begins to take place. It might be ever so subtle in the beginning, but in time the act evolves into a concrete declaration of fact. I also believe that we deserve to know and feel our beauty. I believe it is our right, our spiritual right. Can we reach our full potential in this one precious life we have been honored with if we are chasing an artificial ideal of our self-worth? This is the ultimate question that we must ask ourselves – and guide our young daughters looking up to us to do the same.

What else are you up to with the I Am Beautiful Project?

I speak frequently to various audiences of women and girls on this subject. From colleges and universities around the country to high schools, at companies and more. These seminars and workshops are designed to dig deeper into the issues we have explored in this interview. These events are listed on my website: www.iambeautiful.com

My website also recommends other books and web links on this subject, as well as tips on building better self-esteem. Please visit! Please write with any questions.

Have fun with more Wordless Wednesday.

Despite some frigid temperatures, we headed out this weekend to explore our new city. It was mostly a driving tour, stopping to check out a few shops, have lunch then we headed home. We stopped at the coolest second-hand store, however I was unable to explore it. It was so full of stuff one could barely walk, never mind have children present. It will definitely be a place to explore without the kids!

Ethan has been balancing hands free while standing. He looks like he is surfing when he does it. Too cute. He rambles on in baby-speak like we should all understand and loves to chase his big sister and the cat. We took him to get his photo done for his citizenship card, only to spook him completely. Ethan burst into tears and was beside himself with concern. I can only assume he figured we were going to leave him with the Walmart photographer … poor kid, I would have been scared too!

Becca has a stuffy nose from her sleepfest on Friday, she is generally uner the weather but is *ok* While we were on our driving tour she would point out things she spotted, she is growing up so fast. At one point she must have gotten a tad bored.

“Mommy …. ” oh so softly Becca mews …

“Yes Becca?” I turn in the front passenger seat …

“There is a Cheerio in my nose Mommy”

I look at J as he swerves off the highway so I can try to extract the Cheerio from her nose. Thankfully, she blew into a kleenex and out popped the Cheerio.

“Do we place Cheerios OR anything in our noses?”

“No Mommy” *snickers in the back*

Well the car is said to be repaired (faulty battery we are told) and the inspection passed after $900 of work … ouch. J pushed the car to the shop. Have I mentioned that he is my hero. We can see the shop from our apartment building but still that is mighty impressive. He makes me swoon. We are now parking the car in the underground parking at our apartment. We were attempting to be all frugal but cold cars are not happy cars.

It appears Becca is ill. She slept until after 8 am (something she never does) and has again went back to sleep. Poor girl. We lugged her to the motor vehicles so we could get out licenses and plates this morning. She said she wasn’t well this morning but she is three and a half and can be “ill” when we are about to do some chore that is not her idea of a good time.

Thanks for all the awesome feedback yesterday, you guys really rock. I am so not alone and that really truly helps. Thanks.

The weekend is here again! w00t! As promised earlier this week I am hosting a contest. The awesome folks at Lemonsquare “Music for Fun” asked us to review their groovy children’s CD. We happily accepted two copies, one for you and one for me!

We are loving the music! We received it last week and we already sing along happily in the car and the kitchen! The music is catchy and sweet, but not annoying like some children’s music. Becca has stopped and asked me about vegetables like three times this week and at first I could not figure out why they were on her mind so much. Then it dawned on me that it just could be because I keep singing “I am very veggie…very very veggie… ”

Here is a list of the tunes you can find on the CD:

1. I Found It (a body parts song)
2. Very Veggie (eat’um up oh yeah) <—- One of our Favourites!
3. Brush My Teeth (everyday)
4. Bear Knows Best (animal sounds) <—- Another one of our Favourites!
5. Big Blue Whale (a fishy tale)
6. Bathtime (It’s good to be clean)
7. Lemonsquare Shuffle (our first dance song)
8. Rainbow (teaching the colors)
9. Wake Daddy (someone’s got to)
10. Dream (a soothing lullaby)

Every time the Bear Knows Best track comes on Ethan goes looking for the lady singing (way better than Mommy!) It is so cute! The tracks are really fun, make you want to dance and get my kid talking about the topics, be it vegetables or animals.

So want to win you very own copy of the Lemonsquare “Music for Fun” CD? Simply leave a comment telling me you favourite children’s band.

I will randomly choose a winner next week … The contest is open to everyone since it shouldn’t cost too much to send the CD out …

Now what if you do not win a copy? Head over to the band’s website for details on how you can purchase your own copy of the CD and hear a preview of the tracks. I have to say that one the perks for me is that a Dad developed the concept and pulled it all together. Many Thanks to Alan for the opportunity to review such a great collection of music for children.

grrr … Remember when the car wouldn’t start? We had initially thought it was the battery, so we replaced that. ugh. We were partially right?!?! I took the kids down late yesterday afternoon, only to discover, even though it like -2 C the little piece of … The car would not start. It takes a lot of energy, both physical and mental to get two kids ready, winter gear, carry one, drag the other down the stairs to the car. I was so annoyed. We were headed out to pick J up from work, alas we could not.

J theorizes it is the starter or something. We have to get the … car inspected as a final step to import it, so once we get it going again we can take it to Canadian Tire (mechanic place) to get the new part too. To be fair (I have a detest for this car) this is the second “fix” we have had to do since buying it two years ago. So it is not a complete lemon. grr. The car continues to run to spite me and then does not run when I want it to.

This probably squashes any weekend plans I would have created.  grr.

I am struggling with a balance. I want stuff. I want to be “normal” with stuff. I do not want to be the weird family anymore. I have put my time in, now show me the money. Unfortunately, it is not like that. J’s dream job is wicked awesome, however it does not pay fan-frikin’-tastic right out the gate. So we are just getting started. Most people start off, no kids, two incomes, pay off the student loans, buy a house, a car, curtains … well I could not wait for kids. I am more than happy with our decision to start our family when J was still in school, however it makes it a little rough with the coin. Or rather the lack thereof.

So I must balance. Not to say I am not spoiled, or that the children are in need. Sometimes I feel like if I want all this stuff, somehow I do not apprecaite what I have. I am so lucky to be able to stay at home. Not everyone can do what we do. The sacrifices we make as a family so I can be here everyday with the children are huge. In part, because we did nto have the two income, no kids life, we do not really know what we are missing. Besides with the writers on strike, not having cable at the moment doesn’t seem like a loss

Still … I want. I want. I want … I feel like a three year old. It doesn’t help that I set out a budget and the “spending $” section was pretty sparse. I have no regrets. Yet I want more. To get more I would have to a) Get a Job and leave the children or b) Wait.

Waiting sucks.

It really is a matter of me getting accustomed to our new life, our new city, our new everything. Takes time. So why do I feel like time is slipping away from me?