A RealFamilies RealFun Blog

Jun 23 2008

Walk the walk

Category: Family Fun

Hands on hips, Lucie sashays into the kitchen and announces, "I'm a hottie." She pivots, and walks away, her hips exaggeratedly swaying from side to side.

I stand there mouth agape, wondering where she learned that maneuver. Could it be from Jenny and Sadie, our friends' daughters who are 7 and 10? No, there hasn't been a meeting of The Secret Girls Club (as Paul likes to call them) in many weeks.

Then I realized it's all Tyra Banks fault.

I'm enthralled by her reality show "America's Next Top Model." I find it fascinating to see how photographers and models work together and how stylists combine clothing, hair styling, and makeup. I only watch it because of my interest in the fashion industry and not the contestant dramatics. Really, I swear.

One evening I made the mistake of watching "Top Model" with Paul and the kids in the room. I vaguely remember him and Nathan discussing which girls they thought were hotties. Lucie must have picked up on that and the models doing their runway walks. Ever a mimic, she perfected her catwalk in a few minutes and showed it off the following evening.

Lucie's "hottie walk" is cute because she's three. If she were older, I'd have a serious talk with her about the media's impact on girls' and women's body image. Nevertheless, for now "Top Model" will be mama's guilty pleasure after the kids are in bed.