When I was growing up I hated the way I looked. My hair looked like a ball of curls and I was a chubby girl with a lot of freckles on my nose and cheeks. Most of the time I felt ugly.
People squeezed my chubbycheeks when they saw me andthis made me blush even moreand want to disappear from the face of the earth. I felt I had elephant legs, never liked the shape or colour of my skin… or the clothes my mum made me wear.
At school, I was the youngest-looking girl in my class and felt like a baby next to some of my friends – some of whom already looked like divas and talked about boys or the new outfit they just bought.
We grow up harbouring negative thoughts about the way we look and the way we feel until one fine day we suddenly feel a tad more at ease with our reflection in the mirror.
The legs start to look slimmer, the waist becomes smaller, the pimples and puppy fat disappear… and lifebecomes a little easier… or so we think. But our petty teen year woes quickly fade as we enter adolescence and adulthood without even knowing it.
I think it is every parent’s pride and joy to see their offspring grow into healthy and beautiful adults with brilliant personalites and intelligent minds.
However, health and life in general are sadly taken for granted all the time, especially by young people who seem to plunge into serious situations without even thinking or caring for that matter.
We seem to have lost the feeling of preciousness of life. Every day, we need to realise we are lucky to be alive and blessed to be healthy.
We also need to harp about this to our children, so they can really inherit the strong values and put them into practice when they come across certain problems at a later stage in their lives.
I sometimes get the feeling our children are not taught properly their responsibilities, how to cope with everyday, real-life situations. Many just sit back and let the parents face the music. Or they simply do not care.
Our children need to take a more active role in understanding that life can be complicated and know they need to be ready to help out.
Only this will lead them to a happier and healthier life full of inner and exterior beauty.
space@timesofmalta.com