chapter 8 and 9

chapter 8

            We have got to the chapter that speaks of changes that happens to girls that makes them women and boys men. I remember this stage in my life, it usually happens in the sixth or seventh grade. when girls start realizing that their best guy friend is cute. where the boys start realizing certain things about girls that weren't their before, or they didn't notice them until now. when kids are going though this change I can honestly say that not only are their physical changes, but their are also attitude changes. At this age is when my mother and I started seeing things differently. At this age I started hanging out with friends out side of school at the mall instead of the playground. I wore make up and cared about how my hair looked, instead of putting it back into a pony tail. where slumber parties didn't consist of just watching movies but talking about our crushes. Some of these changes are hard to deal with, when approaching this age I feel like parents should have open communication with their child. If a child has a question about something like sex or changes in their bodies I don't feel like they should be shunned because they are curious. I wish I could have had that open communication with my mother, I found out what I mostly know now from friends or the Internet. I feel like in these years that's why I was such a rebel.  I wanna call these years were the years that I wanna call, the year of the rebel. I wanted to do everything my mom was against because she said no. through my adolescence I gave my mom hell, and now that I am a mother I pray to god that he will have mercy on my soul when my daughter reaches this age. My mother always reminds me of my wrong doings when I was this age and lets me know that usually the headaches are double when the rebels have kids.

Chapter 9

        This chapter covers a lot of issues that teenagers go through. I feel like one that doesn't get talked about enough is self esteem and identity. With all the media out their peer pressuring girls that a size 0 is "hot". Dressing provocatively is the only way to be cool and get the boy of your dreams. A lot of magazines gear girls towards  being that size zero and putting on a bunch of makeup. Its hard for some girls who are lets say " plus size" that they will never be that size 0. I'm not trying to be mean but I myself as a plus size woman had to come to the realization that I could never be a size 0, not because I was being hard on myself. Its because the way by body was built its built to hold meat and be solid. I'm not burly or anything, I'm not extremely overweight or anything but I'm not a size 0, I am plus size and proud. I know that I am beautiful, but what does a girl have to go through to finally bloom and be happy with her size? To be called every animal on the farm or every animal on the African Savannah? Honestly when I was in these years I really didn't have issues with others such as being called fat, heavy or any other names. I got a long with everyone, and I feel for those girls out there that had to go through that. If I could tell them one thing it would be this, you are beautiful who you are and you may feel like your outer image doesn't show your beauty but in the real world its your inner beauty that matters most to others. If you have an inner beauty that shimmers like diamonds in the light then you are flawless.