Maeve the Brave! (one girl’s self-portrait)

Just last week, I attended an “Author’s Breakfast” for my youngest daughter, Maeve.

Maeve just turned 7 and we call her “Maeve the Brave” – for good reason. The nurse actually nicknamed her after a pretty intense delivery, and it’s turned out there’s no better name in the world for this little one.

“Maeve” means “intoxicating leader,” and in addition to leading the charge in our family, she’s assigned herself the role of neighborhood mayor. Maeve has a truly unique sense of fashion that rivals that of the stylists on our FPgirl shoots. She’s artistic, athletic, sensitive, passionate and driven. Yes, at age 7 we know this. She rode a 2-wheeler when she was just 2 years old – just one day after her brother, age 4 at the time. Needless to say, she knows she can do just about anything and has developed a strong sense of self.

Maeve’s first grade class is absolutely adorable and they are so fortunate to have a phenomenal teacher (game-changing good!). At the Author’s Breakfast, the children shared books they’d written and illustrated. The stories were beautiful, insightful and well written; the illustrations fabulous.

But my favorite part of every book was the “About the Author” section. Here the children described themselves – what they’re good at, their favorite sports, families, etc. – with a sense of pride, confidence and innocence. They had drawn self-portraits with colorful details like rosy cheeks, long eyelashes, brilliant smiles, and sunshine and blue skies.

Seeing those happy drawings instantly made me think of the new Dove campaign – the one where Dove hired a sketch artist and asked real women to describe themselves for a self-portrait. The artist never actually saw the women, he created the portraits based only on what the women told him. In every instance, the portraits showed women who looked tired, old – they were as unflattering as the women’s own self-descriptions.

At the same time, Dove asked another person to describe these same women to the artist and the resulting sketches were so much more vibrant and beautiful. A colleague commented that we never truly see ourselves as others do.

Looking at the children’s self-portraits in Maeve’s classroom, however, I can see that’s not the case for most children. Why? I believe it’s the power of unconditional love. When children are showered with encouragement and support from family, friends and basically the entire village, they’re happy and feel great about themselves.

I wonder … when do we lose that exuberance and how can we keep hold of it for ourselves as well as our children?

I can’t bear to think of a day when Maeve the Brave loses the bounce from her step. As parents, we have a big job ahead of us, but I know we can empower this generation and make sure they continue to see themselves as others see them. Perhaps it starts with me … with each of us. As hard as it is, we shouldn’t be so self-critical! Let our young girls (and boys) see how proud we are of ourselves; how beautiful we believe we are – and do everything in our power to make sure they feel the same way.

So here’s to painting more blue skies, cheery faces and big smiles! Maeve’s portrait featured blonde curly hair, enormous blue eyes and freckles. Stinkin’ cute and I’m so happy she knows it!