Pretty vs. Smart

I had an interesting conversation with my brother in law this 4th of July regarding the old pretty vs. smart debate.  By now most people have read the How To Talk to Little Girls article that was released last July. The writer of this article basically says when we speak to little girls we should generate intelligent conversation that respects their brains, focusing more on thought provoking conversation about books and world events rather than their beauty.  Instead of starting a conversation with "Oh Sara you look gorgeous today!" we should try and say "Sara how is school going? Have you read any interesting books lately?"  

I understand the point this writer was trying to get across.  We live in a celebrity driven, botox injecting, gym rat society where most woman are consumed with how they look.  According to a study conducted last year by the New York Daily News, the average woman will spend approximately $180 per year on make-up which translates into about $13,000 a lifetime.  Now lets be honest, if you are buying MAC or Sephora products that $180 needs to be tripled. With statistics like these its no wonder this woman wants us to focus on the intellect of our young girls and not their beauty right?? Well in my opinion, wrong. While I agree that we need to fully nurture our girls brains and raise them to be highly intelligent and capable woman, we certainly cannot ignore the fact that they need to have a solid self image as well.  If you spend all of your time telling your daughter, you are smart, you are intelligent, you have an amazing brain, the first 15 year old boy that tells her she is beautiful is going to have his way with her.  We need to stop the pretty girl vs. smart girl inner battle. Girls need to have a firm foundation, knowing whole heartedly that they are beautiful, smart and kind. We need to raise a generation of girls that are confident in who they are, where they came from and what they believe in. I want my girls to know without a shadow of a doubt that they are gorgeous, highly intelligent, compassionate and capable of doing anything they want.  I need them to know this in their core.  I want them to have the highest self esteem possible!! They need to 100% believe in themselves and there capabilities.  

My goal is to raise STRONG girls:

S-smart

T-truthful

R-respecatble

O-obedient

N-nurturing

G-gorgeous 

In today's society we need STRONG girls so we will have incredible woman ready to rule this world!!