Should you tell your daughter that she’s pretty?

Is it empowering to let your child know she’s gorgeous, or an unhelpful detour on the road to self-worth?

NO ‘IT’S THE ANTITHESIS OF WHAT I WANT MY GIRLS TO PRIORITISE,’ SAYS ALICE DU PARCQ, BEAUTY JOURNALIST AND CO-FOUNDER OF @WHAT_THE_F0G Wait. Back up a moment. I think my daughters ARE pretty. My four-year-old and four-month-old baby have sparkling eyes, cherubic lips, bite-worthy cheeks and bronze, glossy hair. But I don’t use the word ‘pretty’. It’s a silly word. An old-fashioned term that feels vacuous and superficial; the antithesis of what I want my girls to prioritise in their self-evaluation. I don’t want them to grow up thinking prettiness is important, because it isn’t. However, there was a time at school, aged about 14, when I thought it was. I thought prettiness equalled happiness – that you got the fittest boyfriends, the coolest mates, the biggest crowd of fawning minions desperate…

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Red UK (Digital) - 1 Issue, July 2018

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