Mommy Is Learning Too

Ava truly is a little sponge.  She is soaking in all she sees, hears, and explores.  She amazes me everyday with the things she has learned and sometimes I forget how smart she is.  Sometimes I forget that I need to be sensitive to what she is learning and make sure I am a good teacher.  Just last week Ava said something that surprised me and made me realize I had missed a major teaching opportunity.  This is what happened...

Recently, I have been watching, "Say Yes to the Dress", on Netflix instant.  It is a show about a high-end bridal shop in New York and the brides dress shopping.  I don't usually watch it when Ava is around, but she has seen parts of it.  Unfortunately 99% of the dresses are immodest and unfortunately it didn't occur to me that is what Ava was seeing.  I guess I just assumed I dress modestly and have always dressed Ava modestly, so it wouldn't be an issue at 3 years old.  Well we all know what happens when we assume and boy did I have a wake-up call.

Last week I was watching an episode early in the morning and Ava woke up toward the end.  As we sat and snuggled on the couch she said to me "I want a white dress like that."  I told her she had to wait until she was older and got married.  I also told Ava the dress was not modest and she needed to wear a dress with sleeves.  She told me she did not want sleeves, but wanted a dress like on the show (most of them are strapless).  This concerned me because I realized I had not talked with Ava about modesty or respecting our bodies.  Instead she picked up from this show that wedding dresses are suppose to be strapless and revealing.  At this point I felt like a bad mom.  Ava's view of a wedding dress was skewed and I inadvertently taught her that.

I tried to salvage the moment by talking about my wedding dress.  We even dug it out and looked at it.  Ava still said she didn't want sleeves on her dress.  I tried to talk a little about modesty and respecting our bodies, but by this time Ava was distracted and moved on.  I dropped the subject (for the moment) and we played.

I'm sad I was so oblivious to the fact I was teaching Ava the wrong message.  I should of known better and been more aware of the message Ava was receiving.  This has been a good lesson for me.  Ava is learning from everything around her (good or bad) and it is my job to use these moments as teaching moments.  I want to be the best mom I can be, so I will try to be more diligent and aware.