The Shape of a Mother

One woman wrote, "Motherhood is not for the faint of heart or the vain." How many times have you stood in front of the mirror and mourned the loss of your pre-pregnancy body? It's so sad that in today's society we think that when we have a child we must "bounce back" immediately just like celebrities do. Of course celebrities bounce back like that. For one they have plastic surgeons, trainers, dieticians, the safety of a mansion to hide behind until they look good, and last but certainly not least, airbrush technicians to hide all of those "flaws" that a mother's body might acquire after childbirth. I, for one, do not want my daughter to grow up thinking that she must look a certain way to be accepted by everyone. I want to tell her when I look in the mirror, "I am so beautiful" and not "I'm so fat! I need to lose weight!" I admit I've said or thought these things since having my daughter, but I assure you that I am training myself very hard to say the things she needs to hear. I am the woman that she will look up to as she grows older. I know, not only from personal experience, that if a girl hears her mother say negative things about her body, that girl will wonder why her beautiful, flawless mother would say such things--and if she says those things about herself, then when she says I am beautiful then she must mean the opposite! Mothers, you are not alone in your sagging breasts, your stretchmarks and cellulite. Guess what? It is absolutely normal and common! I've found this wonderful website called The Shape of a Mother. On this blog, women post photos of their bodies post baby. They have stretchmarks, sagging breasts, but each and every one is so incredibly beautiful. I've posted my own photos on this website. I won't direct you straight to them, but the photo on this post is an edited version of the photos I submitted. Be forewarned that there is NUDITY on this website, so please make sure that your children do not see it. It's not sexual nudity, however. It's the nudity of real, flawed, perfectly beautiful mothers. Go ahead and check out TSOAM and encourage your fellow mother. Tell her she is beautiful, because she is. I love this website. I think it's changing the confidence and self image of mothers all over the world. One photo at a time.