This weekend, the Bean took my phone, snapped a quick selfie and asked if she could post it on my Facebook page.

My immediate, visceral reaction was No. No- we don’t draw attention to ourselves like that. No- we don’t just take selfies and share them. No, just no. I hate taking solo selfies- if I take a selfie, it’s with other people while we’re doing something that I want to document. It’s not just me, sitting on a couch, snapping pics. That makes me* feel like I’m begging for attention (…as opposed to blog writing?? I didn’t say my thought process was logical).  But the Bean was adamant and I don’t ever want to squash her if I don’t have to, so I told her to have at it.

Her caption? The beautifulest girl

You guys, I wanted to cry. And cheer. No matter what society is throwing at my kid, right now my 9 year old is feeling herself. She thinks – hell, she knows – she is the most beautiful kid. I don’t want my kids to get all caught up on external beauty- that’s not my priority and it shouldn’t be theirs. But I do want them to have a health self-esteem because, lord knows, the world will try to knock them down a peg or two as they grow.

While I really hope my kids don’t grow up taking duckfaced selfies all day long, I do want them to love themselves today and every day.

*No judgement if you’re a selfie fan!