I thought I’d start off my first blog with the topic of a parent’s perspective on their child’s beauty. I will illustrate my own view with a nice little jog down memory lane. A few years ago, I, as a young mom decided that it would be a good idea to enter my then 9 month old baby in a beauty contest that was being held in an outlet mall. I dragged my baby and my reluctant husband to a gutted out storefront one Sunday afternoon high on the adrenaline of an anticipated win. We arrived at the former Perfumania, plunked down our twenty bucks, and scouted out the competition. As I took in the scene of various overweight moms primping their tuxedoed and poufy dressed little darlings, I began to see the true comedic value in the situation. My precious baby might not win best in show, but I would at least have a funny story to relate to her when she grew up. There were only a dozen or so kids there, including a very cute African American girl who was about the same age as my daughter. But her mother arrived too late to register her in the competition….yes! So my husband and I watched as mothers held their babies up in their arms like little ventriloquists with their dummies and grimaced as one four year old boy in a mini tux posed for the judges with one fist under his chin (he later went on to win the overall contest!) I also did my part and bounced my baby up and down in front of the crowd and discreetly tickled her so that she would smile and laugh for the judges. What did my efforts (not to mention my registration fee) win me? One hilarious (if somewhat embarrassing) hour and a large plastic fake gold trophy for best in age group.
What did all of this teach me? For one thing, my twenty bucks would have been better spent at the mall’s foodcourt. For another thing, most parents really are blind to their child’s beauty/talent/likeability. Why is this? What could have possessed this usually sane and somewhat cynical woman to enter her baby in a lame outlet mall beauty contest? I think that it was equal parts vanity and honest-to-goodness blind maternal love. I would think that there is a small part of each of us that wants our children to be the smartest, the most talented, and the best looking. I also think that we are given a special grace to love and favor our children over all others.
Regardless of the deep meaning behind this, I now understand the reality behind the phrase, “That child has a face only a mother could love.”
-Sarah
sarah .. loved the american girl story…so true