How do you convince your daughter that she is beautiful when the world subliminally suggests that she is not?

How do you help her realize that, even while swimming smack dab in the pond of ugly duckling years, she is truly already a lovely swan?

Every time I go pick up Vivian from school, I am reminded of how sub-standard I am. So many cute moms in their designer jeans or spandex, showing off their perfectly toned physique and (surgically altered?) perkiness. How can I help my daughter recognize her beauty if I am similarly plagued?

It breaks my heart to send a tearful little girl to school, her heart painfully paying the high price of low self-esteem.

She did at least crack a smile when I told her that we’d look at pictures of me when I was in middle school when she gets home today. I assured her that they would cheer her up.