Monday, May 21, 2007

What my children see

I went shopping for a swim suit today and it was quite the adventure. I sorted through all the racks of swimsuits that I thought were cute that I thought might look good on me. After I had approximately eighty swimsuits in hand, we went off in search of the dressing room. I barely missed out on the handicapped stall since a lady with her one child in the stroller zipped in before me and my two kids along with the baby in the stroller could get there. No worries no hard feelings to you and your single child in that enormous dressing room. I will just cram all four of us in the small dressing room and proceed to try on my eighty swim suits with absolutely no room to turn around in. You and your one child enjoy the big dressing room.

You see I came prepared to entertain my kids with a small snack while I changed. Unfortunately they were far more interested in laughing at mom every time they saw my underwear. What in the world made them find this so funny I do not know but they did and they were laughing hysterically at me as I tried on swimsuit after swimsuit. I really was beginning to develop a complex, I mean if my kids are laughing at me in my swimsuit what will the people at the pool think. Once I finally get it narrowed down to about three suits I ask the kids what they think. It's then that I realize what my child sees when they look at me in a swimsuit versus what I see. All that they see is the big bright flowers and colors and none of the rolls and cellulite. To them the more loud the swimsuit the prettier I was. I just wanted to hug them there on the spot, but unfortunately we were still crammed in that small dressing room and I didn't have enough room to do it. So I picked out what was to them the ugliest suit of all since it didn't have enough colors in it and I somehow managed to maneuver back out of the dressing room. I gave them a quick hug and rushed to the closest check out before I could change my mind.

So I kept telling myself that the important thing to remember is that it will be so much fun for the kids to be at the pool this summer and that is what they will remember most. Not what I am wearing. So today all I have for my children is love, since they have shown me so much of that in the dressing room, well except for the laughing at my underwear bit.

2 comments:

nicole said...

Kids are great for the self-esteem, at least most of the time. Sometimes their brutal honesty is a bit depressing, but that's okay. Glad you found one.

Karen Hossink said...

I love that my kids don't see the same things I see - the rolls and cellulite, and various other imperfections. In many ways, I need to become more childlike!
Thanks for sharing this experience.