This week, I was prompted to share a photo to my Instagram account that I would normally, and I mean never in a million years, share on even my own personal Facebook page. However, one comment, from my two-year-old no less, gave me the courage to do so.

A Little Backstory…

I purchased a bathing suit a few weeks ago but wasn’t really feeling “summer body” ready. I tossed the suit in my closet without giving it another thought or even bothering to try it on because, honestly, I had already written it off!

Fast forward a couple of weeks later, to me scrolling through Instagram to spot a gorgeous blogger sporting the exact suit, looking nothing short of amazing. So, of course, I decided to try mine on and play the comparison game. Why do we do this to ourselves?!

I trotted downstairs to get my husband’s opinion, already armed with an array of criticisms for myself. As I walked up to my youngest daughter, she looked at me and exclaimed, “Oh Mama, so pretty! I wanna take your picture!”

Heart. Melted. Everywhere.

I Shared A Photo Of Myself In A Bathing Suit On The Internet…Here’s Why.

With those simple words, I went from feeling completely negative and self-deprecating to feeling so much pride and at the same time so much shame. I was so proud of my sweet girl for seeing me with unconditionally loving eyes and yet so ashamed that two seconds before her comment, I was about to judge and insult myself in front of my children.

I made my way back upstairs, stared in the mirror for a few minutes, and took this picture.

The idea of sharing something so vulnerable (for me) in such a public way was beyond terrifying. I think I hovered over the share button for about ten minutes before saying screw it. I felt like I owed it to my little girl to be proud and to try to see myself through her eyes!

And guess what? It wasn’t nearly as scary this time around to share it here with you! So maybe body positivity is just a matter of taking the plunge, ripping off the band-aid (in this case clothing), and saying here I am, take it or leave it!

Not that I’m going to start throwing bathing suit pictures of me all over my Instagram anytime soon, but I realized several pretty big things from that seemingly simple and brief conversation with my two-year-old.

Children See The World Through Rose-Colored Glasses

And I mean that as a great thing!

Normally, this phrase is reserved for calling someone an optimist, a lot of times in a “you’re way too positive” kind of way. But that’s the great thing about children, they don’t know how to be pessimists! A skill that I have unfortunately honed to an expert level.

Negativity is something we learn as we get older.

Can you imagine how amazing everyone and everything would be if we all looked at the world and the people around us with the positivity and the optimism of a child? The world would be all about candy and bubbles and everyone would be wearing stretchy pants, not caring about their size, and probably glitter.

I think that sounds kind of amazing.

Children Are Little Sponges

We all know this phrase and know all too well that children absorb everything around them. You know that negativity I just mentioned? Yeah, they get that from us.

You know what else they get from us? The way they view themselves.

We tell our children they’re beautiful, adorable, cute, handsome, etc. all the time. But, if our children see us trashing ourselves (not to mention others around us), whether it be in a bathing suit or something as simple as our hair, we’re teaching them that having more curves or frizzy curls is somehow not as pretty or acceptable as the size zero model with the long wavy locks.

Even Reagan’s comment, “I wanna take your picture!” is a perfect example of the little sponge effect! Guess who she is mimicking there? I say that to her any time I get her dressed and think she looks adorable, which is always.

Do I really want my two-year-old to look in the mirror and say, “Gee my butt looks huge today.” Sounds ridiculous right? And yet we do it to ourselves all the time.

Criticism is a learned behavior.

Children See Us How We Should See Ourselves

My kids don’t look at me and see that I will probably never have a thigh gap or that I can’t seem to lose the weight around my post-twins stomach to save my life!

They see the mom who dances with them in the living room, kisses their little toes, no matter how dirty they are (weird, right?), and tucks them in at night. They just see their mom. So I’m working really hard to see myself the exact same way! They see Super Mom so why shouldn’t I?

This stomach I see as such a bad thing, carried healthy twins to full-term, and that’s pretty amazing. And this #MomBod that I criticize so often works full-time to support my family. As much as I might need to hit the gym, I would sacrifice that and a thigh gap just to spend every free minute I can with my kids.

And that’s how I want them to see me.

Positivity Is Contagious

After sharing on Instagram, the positive response and outpouring of support I received amazed me. I’m not sure what I expected, nothing really. But I realized how much people respond to someone being vulnerable and sharing real photos that aren’t always about a perfectly staged and pretty picture.

This is actually my most viewed and most engaged photo to date. I didn’t share it anywhere, didn’t advertise it or anything else, I just put it out there.

So, this is me, trying my hardest to be a confident, unashamed, and positive role model for my children. Though apparently, my children are teaching me as much as I’m teaching them! And I hope from here on out that I’ll be borrowing their rose-colored glasses a lot more often!

Check out all of the amazing comments I received and follow along with me on Instagram!

A post shared by Valerie 💕 Three Clementines (@threeclementines) on Apr 25, 2018 at 9:13am PDT