A GOOD MESSAGE

Carolyn Hax writes a parenting advice column for the Washington Post.  And just recently she had a very interesting discussion with a parent---about the importance of not just outward looks, but also of the need for inner beauty, too; something that those of us connected with Moebius Syndrome can really appreciate.  Read on:

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Q:  We adopted a little girl, and she is very beautiful. I have taken to heart your admonition to center praise around effort and accomplishments and not looks (although I sometimes slip; she really is cute).
My question is: What can I do about comments from people meeting her? [Noting her beauty] is usually one of the first things out of their mouths. And she meets a lot of people; she has a way of making friends with everyone in the store/restaurant/coffee shop just because she’s so outgoing.
Is there a graceful way to demur without being rude, or do we just hope the family emphasis on character has more weight than the entire rest of the world’s comments on her looks?
 
Raising a Beautiful Child
This is really hard, because people can’t (or won’t) help themselves, and kids do internalize messages they hear daily.
You can send a polite message to people who say she’s beautiful by saying, “Inside and out, thank you.” You can also be patient, because the comments directed to you as though she’s not even there will slow down as she gets older.
And you can hold onto the fact that your influence towers over that of the people she meets, at least until peers take over. That’s not to say every remark you make about her looks needs to be treated as a “slip”; you’d be overcompensating if you never said, “I think you’re beautiful.” But if the bulk of the message is about things she controls — like her effort, her attitude, her manners, her determination, her compassion — then her chief messenger can lay a stable foundation (inner beauty trumps outer) beneath what the world keeps implying (outer beauty rules).
Check out the work of Carol Dweck or read “Nurture Shock,” by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, for more on constructive praise.

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Amen!