Were you ever picked on because of your appearance?  Did it negatively impact your self-esteem?  I remember when I was in middle and high school being teased because of how thin I was – so many times I was called anorexic or bulimic because I very skinny – when in actuality I was very healthy, ate all the time, and must have just had a high metabolism.  But the point is those words hurt me and things like this are just getting worse as time goes on.  Now with three little girls of my own I want to make sure to instill confidence in them and to build their self-esteem as much as possible.  My girls may only be 4 years, 2 years, and 2 months old but it is never too early to instill confidence in them and build up their self-esteem and that is why I am so thankful that there are companies dedicated to doing the same thing.

Dove® is committed to inspiring all women and girls to reach their full potential. Through the Dove® Movement for Self-Esteem they invite all women to join in creating a world where beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety. This past October 5th -7th, Dove hosted the third annual Self-Esteem Weekend, a nationwide rally to talk about beauty, confidence and self-esteem with girls everywhere. So far they have reached more than 9 million girls and with our help we can help Dove reach their target of 15 million by 2015. Each time you buy Dove® products you are helping Dove and their charitable partners provide inspiring self-esteem programming for girls such as after-school programs, self-esteem building events and education resources!

And let me tell ya these programs are absolutely necessary for girls everywhere and I am so glad to know they are in place for when my girls get a little older. Once you read these astonishing statistics you will know exactly what I mean – Dove® research shows that there is a universal increase in beauty pressure and a decrease in girls’ confidence as they grow older…

• Only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful (up from 2% in 2004).
• Only 11% of girls globally are comfortable using the word beautiful to describe themselves.
• 72% of girls feel tremendous pressure to be beautiful.
• 80% of women agree that every woman has something about her that is beautiful but do not see their own beauty.
• More than half (54%) of women globally agree that when it comes to how they look, they are their own worst beauty critic.

Wondering how you can help those special girls in your life whether it be your daughter, niece, cousin, step-daughter, little sister, or even the little neighbor girl?  The first step is a simple conversation.  Any time is a good time to start that important conversation about beauty, confidence and self-esteem – why not make that day today? If you’re not sure what to say a great place to start is by downloading the Let’s Talk toolkit to get some great advice.  This awesome toolkit was created with Jess Weiner, Dove Global Self-Esteem Ambassador, and is a great resource for all women to learn how to start a conversation in a simple way. Ask, Share, Listen and Act — you’ll find unintimidating ways to do make these a natural part of your talk about Self-Esteem.

And once you have had the talk with an important girl in your life be sure to visit the Self-Esteem Wall where you can share your experience to help inspire other moms and mentors.  No worries – you won’t be required to write a novel… perhaps just a sentence, small story, or even upload your favorite photo of you and the young girl in your life from your desktop, Facebook or instagram.

Together we can help Dove reach their goal of boosting confidence in 15 million girls by 2015!  Do you have a special girl in your life that you plan to have a conversation with – come back and share how it went!

This article is sponsored by Dove.