Naked Time!

I have a seven year-old who loves to be naked.  She revels in her nude physique.  There is nothing she loves to do more than strip down to nothing and prance around the house, hands on hips with head held high.  She admires her glorious nudity in the living room mirror, much to her brother's horrified chagrin.

Her lack of modesty clashes head-on with Jacob's aversion to anything private being displayed publicly.  He believes that naked bodies belong behind closed doors and people should pretend to never have biological needs that require them to visit the restroom.  So, I've had to institute naked time rules.  Sarah's allowed to enjoy as much naked time as she likes, so long as she confines her nudity to her bedroom or the bathroom (with the door closed, sweetie.  Keeping the door wide open isn't really having alone naked time).

I can't help admiring her pure and simple joy with her own body, though.  Sure, I don't want her to just drop trou at the shopping mall and announce to various and sundry that she's naked.  But, too soon she'll be overly concerned with her body.  Too soon, she'll stare into the mirror with a critical eye, instead of an eye pleased with its object.  Too soon girls seem to add words like diet, fat, and waistline to their vocabulary.  I want her to love her body for as long as humanly possibly.

Even at her tender age, Sarah sees herself as something as an odd-ball.  She feels alien, this blonde petite pixie living in a house full of lumbering brunette giants.  She wonders why she's tiny when the rest of us are tall.  She has no understanding that people with my color hair long for her flaxen locks.  She just sees herself as different.  Even her mind seems to work differently from ours.  The rest of us walk from one point to the next.  Sarah would rather twirl. 

I'm a mom, and its my job to worry.  I hope she never develops a hatred for her body.  I can't stand the thought of her looking in the mirror and seeing someone who's too short, lacking here, too much of something there.  I don't want her to see curly hair and long for straight (or vice-versa.  So far it looks like she's inherited my wavy hair).  I would hate for her to practice different smiles for hours, trying to find one that looks natural but feels manufactured.  Enjoy your body now, my naked lithe pixie.  You are beautiful because God made you to be beautiful.  I wish for you the blessing of knowing how beautiful you truly are, but appreciating the fact that your outer beauty is just one facet of what makes you beautiful.