I have been thinking a lot about being a woman in our culture. So much in the news about rape mentality and “leaning in” and how women dress and now that Eve is growing up I have it all swirling in my head. She has very long legs and a slender body so things that fit around her waist are often too short, in my opinion. However, trying to explain “too short” is tricky. In school I just tell her there is a “finger-tip” policy, which she promptly, and rightly, argues that others are doing it so why can’t she? Outside of school the discussion is trickier.

Let’s all go to the movies…

She wore this outfit the other day. That used to be a suitable dress, a few inches ago. I told her she needs to put something under it. She pulled up the skirt and showed me the short shorts that were already under it. She’s a smart girl and knows that she always needs something under a skirt. However, the shorts and the dress are both too small! I tell her that and she says, but why, they fit fine. I tell her they are too short and she says, “too short for what?” Therein lies the question. Too short for what?

Hmmm… too short for her prudish mother? Too short for those long legs? Too short for today’s culture? I have no real answer. She isn’t wearing them to be sexy, obviously, and not even really for “comfort” like some women argue about scant clothing.  Mostly she wears them because she likes them and they fit last year and they still feel comfortable so why not. I know I need to go through her drawers, again, and take out everything I think is too small, however, I can’t do that forever. She is going to have those long legs for the rest of her life and she needs to be confident in her body and her attire, but still not make herself an easy target.  I am grateful that she is a strong, capable girl with great social skills and I know that will take her far in life, I just hope I can teach her to take care of herself and someday come up with a good reason to explain “too short.”

I saw this on the wall in the bathroom at the vet’s office. Random place, but I love the quote and it somehow seems relevant to this post.

Big kids, big problems.

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Our neighbors got a new camper and invited Eve to sleep over the first night. She was pretty excited.

All ready for a sleepover.

We had a nice chat on the walk over too. She told me that she often feels jealous of Lex because he is older and gets to do a lot of stuff (in her mind) that she doesn’t, but she tries to reminder herself that there are things she does that he doesn’t, like sleepovers. She said she feels a little sad for Lex that he doesn’t get to have fun sleepovers and sleepaway camps. It was a nice conversation, and when I told Alan about it later he said that they had a similar conversation a few days ago at breakfast, only it was him pointing those things out to her! It’s always nice to hear evidence that your kid is listening! :)

My neighbor said she bought the camper because she has fond memories of camping as a child and playing in their camper. Reminded me of the old tow-behind we used to have parked in the side lawn and all the fun times we had playing in it. It was like our own little play house.

Big smiles!

I woke up in the middle of the night to a big thunder storm and immediately thought of Miss Eve in a camper! She told me later that she woke from the first drop of rain that fell and stayed awake through the whole storm. She said she wasn’t scared, just couldn’t sleep. I bet there were a few emotions going on that she wasn’t telling me about. :)

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