This Mom's Stretch Mark Explanation Is Going Viral
When 4-year-old Cambelle Kimmey asked about the stretch marks on her mother's belly, her mom, Allison Kimmey, delivered an answer that pretty much guarantees Cambelle will grow up loving her body - including the stretch marks that plague so many women.
"When I was a little older than you, I got some stripes when I grew really fast," the 30-year-old Florida mom said to her daughter. "Some of these stripes are from when I had you growing in my tummy."
And because the sun was hitting her skin in a way that made her stretch marks shimmer, Allison added, "They are shiny and sparkly, aren't they pretty?"
In a world where manufacturers produce entire product lines designed to erase stretch marks, Allison managed to convince her daughter that stretch marks aren't just normal, but A-W-E-S-O-M-E. After all, like most "flaws," the way you feel about them depends on how you look at them: See them as a testament to your body's remarkable resilience, and you'll agree they're not so bad.
Cambelle's response to her mother's explanation proves she got the right message: "When can I get some?" Cambelle asked.
Allison described this conversation in a Facebook photo and caption, featuring her and her daughter in bikinis, and it was shared more than 29,000 times. Meanwhile, more than 1,000 commenters have chimed in so far to applaud Allison's body-positive parenting:
"It matters how we talk to our daughters about our bodies!" Allison wrote in her post. "They are listening. They are asking. And it is up to YOU to help them shape how they will feel about these things!"
Allison would know: Although she had cellulite by age 8, and had outgrown straight sizes by age 13, her mother never commented on Allison's body. "She did her best to make me feel beautiful," Allison says. Still, Allison read magazines and watched TV, and it was hard to ignore the difference between her own reflection and the "ideal" bodies she saw in the media. As Allison entered her 20s, she developed an unhealthy obsession with exercise and dieting. It wasn't until after she had a major breakdown three weeks after giving birth to her second child, Cambelle, that Allison realized it had to stop. "I realized that I couldn't keep living diet to diet and that I needed to work on the INSIDE, not just the outside," she says.
It took nearly five years of reading self-help books, attending body-positivity conferences, speaking with mentors, and pushing herself to do scary things - like posting photos of herself wearing a bikini online for everyone to see - for Allison to finally come around to her figure. "[Now], I can happily say that I am totally in love with every inch," she says.
Allison is pleased that Cambelle seems to be acquiring her mom's body positivity: "I know that she will most likely have a similar frame as myself, and I understand the challenges that are ahead," Allison says, implying that life can be especially difficult for curvy women. "I am confident that if I lead the way in loving my body and showing her that we are capable, lovable, and worthy no matter our size, that she will be a force to be reckoned with."
Allison's awesome attitude is a true gift to her daughter - #MomGoals! Here's to hoping every parent who sees her viral post follows suit.
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