Your daughter is more than her physical body.
Of course, she is.
Help her focus on other things, things that last.
As an added note in this vein, I believe, a dad should never – ever – say anything negative about the physical appearance of his daughter.
A dad should be his daughter’s biggest cheerleader.
Get in there, and be in her corner.
Whatever your daughter’s body is like, she most likely feels awkward about it in her Autonomous Years, also. Prepubescent bodies are definitely the fashion, even though they are not reality. It is not your job, however, to make her lose weight (if she is overweight), unless she specifically asks. To make her weight loss your “project” without her request will only make her feel worse about herself. What you can do is help her see the truth about who she is beyond what she looks like. You have a unique voice in her life to help her see how God has uniquely gifted her. We talk more about how you can do this in our final chapter. She needs you. She needs your insight into who she is and who she can be. She needs your help in seeing that she has much more to offer than just her body —because, in these years, there will be those saying the opposite.
-Melissa Trevathan and Sissy Goff, Raising Girls
