In continuing my discussion of Vicki Courtney’s 5 Conversations You Must Have with Your Daughter, we enter into Chapter 2, “The Size Demise and the Weight Debate” which I refer to as the Illusion of the Ideal.

The average woman in America is 5 feet 3.8 inches and weighs 163 pounds.

The average runway model is 5 feet 11 inches and weighs 120 pounds.

It’s no wonder that 53% of American girls are unhappy with their bodies, and that by age 17, 78% are dissatisfied. It’s also no wonder that spending 3 minutes looking at fashion magazines lowers the self esteem of 80% of women.

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Romans 12:2 says:

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing, and perfect will.”

That said, our daughters are growing up in a culture that is absolutely obsessed about weight. The number of diet related articles appearing in womens’ magazines rose 70% between 1968 and 1984, and Americans spend $30 billion a year on diet products. Young girls are more afraid of becoming fat that getting cancer. A recent article in USA Today said that more women would rather be poor than be overweight.

This is my daughter:

I could not believe it the other day when she grabbed some loose skin on her belly and made the remark that she was starting to get fat and needed to lose some weight.

If nothing else, this woke me up to how susceptible she is to marketing. Even though we’ve read this book together and she intellectually knows all of these facts and figures, she is still a child of this world, this generation, and weight is such a focus.

It is important to teach our daughters, and to remember for ourselves, that God formed us in the womb. He knew what our body shapes and body types would be before he even crafted the stars. There is a popular Christian song that says, “You (God) made everything wonderful. What does that make me?”

God made you. He has a plan and a purpose for your life and for your daughter’s life. We need to work hard at keeping our daughters’ focus on God and God’s plans rather than what the world says about this generation’s “perfect” body shape.

Hallee

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