Stereotypes

I think that stereotypes and the way society views you has a major impact in how you see yourself. My children are twenty one and sixteen needing to wear the most stylish clothes including Abercrombie and Fitch, Hollister and many more. I think this type of behavior is more common in teens and young adults since they are finding out who they are.  Sadly we live in a society where the negative characteristics of a person stick out more so than the good ones including looks. If you don't look "cool" but have a good personality not many people will want to approach you. "A study revealed that job interviewers were likely to reject a candidate who revealed negative information even when the rest of the information about the candidate is positive." That goes to show that negative sticks out much more than positive, thats why we feel like we have to dress and look out best in fear of walking out of the house being judged in a negative way. Although this problem will never end along as there is hollywood and television giving us one definition what beautiful is, its up to us to try and teach our children it really is the inside what counts after all.

References:

Looking Out Looking In 12th edition

Chapter 3 

Saving Face

Im a person who tries to make the peace with everyone in my household no matter what, especially my children. My husband can be very strict which is a great thing since I'm such a "softy." My children have simple chores to do around the house each day which consist of making their beds, letting the dogs outside and unloading the dishwasher. A few weeks ago my son went to his friends house but was told first he had to do his household chores. When I got home from work his bed was unmade and the dishwasher was full. Knowing that my husband would be home in about an hour I decided to do his chores myself to save him from getting grounded.  Knowing this was wrong I called him and made an agreement. I told him that when he got home he had to help me out around the house which he agreed to do. I think this is okay once in a while as long as he knows what he did was wrong and makes up for it. I would consider myself the glue to our family and try to keep the peace as much as I can. Saving face isn't always right but I think with minor things such as this it can be okay.

Attacking the Critic

My daughter and I started weight watchers last month with great results so far. My husband and son can be very rude and make sure they comment on something if they think it's not in our "diet" plan. With weight watchers you can eat chocolate, chips even fast food but in moderation. I know that they are just trying to help us stay on track but I get very defensive since there not bean poles themselves. I am attacking the critic using verbal aggression because its something I don't want to hear, which can turn into an argument. My husband and son don't mean to hurt my feelings but they like to use sarcasm which I take the wrong way. I found out with me that if not comfortable with something about myself its easy to get defensive and feel threatened even though its my family and they would never try to hurt me. I need to learn to just brush this issue off and not get so worked up about it. I'm a person that can take a lot of jokes and sarcasm unless its something that I'm trying to change and I'm insecure with.  I'm learning to sit back an evaluate the whole situation before I make a rational decision that leaves everyone feeling upset. We are both down about twelve pounds so I guess in time they will learn to shut themselves up once we reach our desired goal weight!