Let Your Kids See You Wear The Bathing Suit
The beach days ahead will stay with them in more ways than we realize.
Alena Ozerova | Canva Ten years ago, I never would’ve posted a picture of me in a two-piece bathing suit. Not even my private Facebook. I was half my current size and had zero stretch marks from carrying and birthing two boys.
Five years ago I never would’ve posted a picture of me in a bathing suit on social media. Not even my private Facebook. I was 20 lbs smaller and had very few scars from carrying and birthing my first baby.
Today, I shared a picture of me in a bathing suit on my social media account. Not for attention. Not for any reason — just that I want other women who have felt like me, to do the same.
I bought a retro-style Jack Skellington-esque bathing suit on Amazon for $30. I didn’t expect it to fit properly. I ordered one size up, as the Amazon reviews said to do. Years ago, I would’ve been a small. Even three years ago, I would’ve been a medium. Well, this suit is a size XL. And you know what? It fits me like a glove! It hugs my mom-bod in all of the right places!
As summer approaches and we get out with our kids, I hope you will be confident enough to wear whatever kind of suit that makes you feel great.
I’ve reached a point in my life, where I am finally OK with the body God gave me.
I’m not the high school girl who starved herself to be 120 lbs, only eating toast for breakfast and soup for dinner — with my stomach gargling so loud in classes that I had to hold my arm over it so my classmates wouldn’t hear.
I’m not the new mom who dropped all 30 lbs of her baby weight in the first 2 weeks home because I couldn’t stand to eat because of the postpartum depression that was wrecking my mind.
I’m not the miscarriage mama who treated her grief with unnecessary workouts and ate cookies an hour later.
I’m now the mama of two beautiful, lively boys, who watch me put on my makeup and ask me why I wear dresses. I walk 3 miles almost daily and eat right most days, but I’m still far from perfect. But, that’s OK.
I will be their role model for how a woman should be, carry herself, and treat a man.
I want them to see me be proud of the body that gave life to them. I want to go to the beach with them and lay in the sun. I want them to see all of these things, and pass them on to the women (or men) they choose to love and potential granddaughters they may bring into my life.
We are all beautiful. We are all lovely. We all deserve to wear things that make us feel sexy and loved. Nobody should ever be able to take that away from us.
Once you find that confidence, whether it takes you 35 years, 15 or 77, don’t ever let go of it. Because that in itself, is beautiful.
Britt LeBoeuf is a freelance writer and social media specialist from Upstate, N.Y. Her writing can be found on Scary Mommy, Sammiches and Psych Meds, and Medium. Her other works include: My Mommy's Not Happy Anymore: A Children's Book To Help Kids Understand Postpartum Depression and North Country Roots: Reflections and Imagery of Northern New York.