I feel it enormous responsibility, as a mother of two little girls, to lead you down a path that is relatively healthy when it comes to beauty and self-image. In a lot of women's eyes I've probably already failed in that respect due to the amount of pink princess Barbie   mess cluttering up   Vera's room. But I will say something about Barbie: I played with that stuff for a solid decade when I was growing up and here I am now at a healthy weight with a healthy outlook on my body and image. I have a successful career. If Barbie was really so damaging to my femininity   and self-image I highly doubt I could list all of the accomplishments. But I get it too. It's hard for women to maintain a healthy self-image. I have girlfriends around whom I have to brace myself to see, because just being around them makes me self-conscious. I look at old pictures of my mother and wonder why I've never been able to be as skinny as she was. And then I have friends who are thinner than their mothers ever were. We women go round and round in circles, holding hands and trying to be one another sometimes. Men like to think we dress and style ourselves for them, but why would we when they hardly notice? I've never tried so hard to look good when I know I'm about to meet up with a stylish girlfriend. It's she who will notice my slimmed-down waist or the thinnest, little bracelet on my arm. And I have no doubt that the two of you, Veronica and Juliette, will endlessly compare yourselves to each other. You will wonder why one of you got longer legs or shinier hair. The thing I'll tell you is this: not even the prettiest of us feel settled. The girl you think looks the most perfect in the world is probably the girl who wants to change herself more than anyone else. Don't take these on. You are not worthless. You are so full of love and light and you should let it shine through your every second. If someone pushes you down for standing tall then just push yourself back up and stand even taller. And know that the reason they push you down in the first place is just because they're scared. The author advises her daughters that   _  .
they should be cautious not to be pushed down by others they should care much about their strong points instead of appearances they should try to grow taller than others they should care more about others' opinions