Application Error

With three daughters I try to tread lightly around any body image conversations. It’s important to me that they are raised with a healthy respect for their bodies and a sense of what’s actually important in their lives. This is sometimes easier said than done. I want to teach them modesty while at the same time try not to teach them to be ashamed of their bodies. I want to teach them that they are beautiful just the way they are. Unfortunately, the world is screaming every other viewpoint at them on a daily basis. Makeup has been a point of particular contention for us. Partially because I enjoy wearing makeup myself, but I don’t want my children to think it’s important. I have found this is a very difficult line to walk with them. They think it looks fun and constantly want to try some on. For years it has worked well for me to simply pretend to brush some on them. The older ones are starting to catch on now though. Anyways… true to form… when you deny your kids something they’ll often just go somewhere else try to find it! I was doing the drive to school drop off pretty quickly this morning all on my own as Alex had left quite early. I had three girls I was dropping off at three different schools with staggered start times. If I hustle I can usually get them all there mostly on time. Of course our morning started off nothing like I had planned in my mind though. The Tooth Fairy forgot to come, again, last night. So Rose was in a tizzy and woke me up 40 minutes early to voice her concerns about the Tooth Fairy’s unexplained absence. Rose had also got her ant farm set up the night before and Elle decided it would be fun to take the lid off bright and early this morning. Scarlett decided she is now anti-pants. And this was all pretty much by 7 AM. Needless to say we were rushing by the time we finally got into the van to takeoff. It was only when I was pulling into Scarlett’s preschool on two wheels that I heard the snickering coming from the backseat. I turned around to find all three of my girls looking like a version of Batman’s Joker.  They had used a tube of maroon lipstick sometime during the drive. And you could tell that they lacked application practice. Or we hit A LOT of chatter bumps on the way. They also haven’t learned that lipstick often has a bit of a staining factor… meaning you can’t just wipe it off and be fine. I looked like I was dropping children straight from a brothel into all of the local elementary schools this morning. The lipstick has now been confiscated. Apparently it belonged to a friend at school…   My standards are so low at this point that I kind of like the shade and might keep it myself. I call that a win. If I have a cold sore the next time you see me, it’s probably the 47 other elementary students that tried this lipstick before I did.