Skipping Vanity Fair

While watching my four-and-a-half-year-old daughter play outside in wind and sunshine this week, I was struck by something very refreshing. This child does nothing superfluous to herself. She cleans, feeds and dresses herself well. Vanity and peer pressure do not yet factor into her decisions. The imposed desire to improve her appearance for the approval or attention of others is still distant – or at least minimal – in her consciousness. As soon as she was able to make decisions for herself we allowed her the liberty of selecting clothing that is appropriate to her planned activity and the weather, regardless of how color coordinated or fashionable it was. She continues to avoid uncomfortable things because, well, they are uncomfortable. She lets me cut her hair into an, immensely-practical-albeit-not-super-fashionable, bowl cut. Smearing her face with chemical pigments or punching holes in her ears have not yet crossed the threshold of acceptability in her mind. She enjoys articles of clothing because of what they look like, not what they make her body look like. In other words, a practical but shiny one piece bathing suit will trump a revealing two piece any day.
I love this phase. I know it is fleeting. I know the day is coming when I will have a six year old who yearns to look like the older girls and who may not accept my explanations about practical and modest dress as readily as my current cutie. Nonetheless, I just wanted to share my appreciation of her total lack of vanity and the ease of living I witness in her as a result.

We are called to have “faith like a child”, well my new plan is to strive for the “humility of this child” as well.