back to school, back to reality

If I had any doubts before of my decision to stay home with my kids they have since been erased.  Being home with Ethan and now Blythe is of paramount importance.  This was shown to me just recently with back to school shopping.

We spend a great deal of attention discussing the focus that media has on how girls should look.  How girls should be a certain weight or have a certain "look" to them.  I had no idea what an impact it had on our boys.  Of course, I suppose I did know to some degree, but it hadn't occurred to me that it had registered yet with Ethan.  We had to go through all his clothes because he is constantly growing which means buying a lot for the upcoming school year.  He is excited for his new clothes.  Until he saw he had to go up in size.  Somehow Ethan knows his weight and he and I had a long conversation about what his weight should be.  For some reason he thought he needed to be twenty pounds lighter than what he was!

Twenty pounds lighter!

Already he has somehow received the message that he needs to be "skinny" or have "tight abs" or "fit".  It made me sad.  And even angry.  It showed me how this was another way my kids are having their childhood taken away.  Ethan is at a healthy weight and a healthy BMI yet he thinks he is not good enough by today's standards -- and he is a child.  

I am grateful for the gospel and for what it teaches us about our bodies.  I am so grateful for being his mother and being in the position to teach him how to cherish his body as a gift from Heavenly Father.  We are to be good stewards over bodies, to eat healthy and exercise but not be extreme.  We are to be judicious in how we treat ourselves as our bodies house our spirits and we are children of our Heavenly Father.  

Clearly I would have been able to have this conversation while I was working.  However, I am no longer so busy that I have to rush these conversations.  I am able to slow down and truly be in tune with the spirit and know what to say to my son and later my daughter.  I know that Ethan knows I'm not rushed and he opens up to me more and confides to me his worries and fears, something he didn't do as often before.  

These are difficult times to have children.  I am so grateful to have the gospel to help me raise them.  I am even more grateful to be home to do so.