Do I look pretty?

We were getting ready to go out yesterday and I wanted to put some lip balm on the boy since it was really cold out. He wasn't into it, but said he was willing to wear some lipstick. So I pulled out one of my moisturising lipsticks, (in a lovely shade of pink) and proceeded to put it on him. After it was done and he'd smushed his lips together, he looked at hubby and said "Do I look pretty now?" I quickly jumped in and told him that of course he looked pretty, but that he looked pretty even without the lipstick. "Ok Mummy, thank you" and that was it.

Yikes. I'm going to have to work on making sure he doesn't think that make up (or anything else external) will make him pretty, or handsome (as he grows up and probably won't want to be called pretty).

I'm sure that he's picked this notion up from me, and so I am going to have make a conscious effort to be happy with how I look, whether it's yoga pants and no make up, or dressed to the nines. This isn't something that's easy for me, since, like a lot of women, I have self-esteem issues. I always figured it was good I had a boy, and it would be harder to pass my issues on as he wouldn't feel obliged to live up to society's standards of beauty. I guess I was wrong. 

For now, I'm not that worried, I don't think it's an engrained belief in him yet. It just means that I have to be more vigilant about what messages I'm sending, and making sure that the boy knows that he's pretty no matter what.