Coming Back Down to Earth....

Today on my lunch break, after I'd enjoyed my leftovers from the AMAZING Matrimonio di Mare I had last night, I returned to my desk to do some fun Internet browsing for my last half hour. 

I bought a book which sadly won't be delivered to my Kindle until AFTER my trip to D-Town this weekend (any suggestions for something I should buy to read on the plane??) and then I began drooling lusting over these....

gorge.

and then moved on to these....

(seriously, why has my hunt for simple, beautiful wedges been so difficult this year?!)

Just as I was about to return to my daily duties at the office, I saw a sorority sister had posted this Huffington Post article on Fbook. 

Honestly, the title "How to Talk to Little Girls" threw me for a bit of a loop....it sounds kinda creepy, right? But, thankfully, I read on. 

The author, Lisa Bloom, has also written a book entitled Think: Straight Talk for Women in a Dumbed-Down World.

(After that title, I'm sure I don't need to write a summary)

The article touches on our society's natural tendency to compliment and praise children from a very young age, specifically girls, on appearance based topics: clothing, hair, physical attributes. I'm sure most people would never think twice about saying "Little Cindy, that pink dress you are wearing is very pretty." What harm could that do?

Bloom points out that compliments just like that, benign and harmless as the intention may be, teach us from early on that our appearance is a focus. Whether it is at home, in the workplace, in her group of friends, or even to strangers walking down the street, what a woman is wearing, how she is groomed, her general appearance will probably be a factor in how her intelligence and personality are perceived. 

I am not going to go off on some tangent about unequal pay or a rant about how airbrushing in magazines is bringing about the demise of our country...I've got yoga in the morning.

But the next time I encounter a young girl, I am going to make an effort to compliment her on or inquire about something that doesn't concern anything about how she looks. Who knows, maybe I'll get a good book recommendation out of it!