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We were playing in the sun, like big kids and little kids do together sometimes, until the mood completely changed. The wind caught my shirt and she tells me, "Your stomach is flat. If you have a flat stomach, then guys will want to date you." She was 5 years old.

I was 27 at the time, and it was right at that moment that I wondered what it is we are teaching our young girls. She wouldn't budge on telling me where she learned that from, but I could have made an educated guess. It made me so uncomfortable to hear a 5-year-old talk about what makes someone datable, let alone talk about dating at all.

I know for a fact that she heard someone close to her say those words, which is unfortunate. So I tried to think back to when I was a little girl. I tried to remember all the things I was taught about image and self-worth. Strangely enough, I can never remember any actual words being spoken. The other day, a friend of mine said, "more is caught than is taught." Growing up, my mother was in my life very sparingly, but I can remember just about everything she taught me, without ever having said a word. I was with my dad a lot, so I was a tomboy, but I remember how my she never did much to alter her image. The only makeup I ever saw her wear was lipstick. And it was always this same little green tube of lipstick that turned red when you applied it. She was comfortable in her own skin. She was comfortable being herself. She knew who she was, and she was confident. I'm almost certain that that's what attracted my dad. Yes, she was a beautiful woman, no doubt. And she probably had a flat stomach, too. But with that, you can only go so far.

Society and the media makes it a struggle for women to look at themselves as desirable. And with Instagram models right at our fingertips, it's easy to compare. Well, comparison is the thief of joy. I've seen and heard several women complain about their bodies because they don't look like this, and don't look like that. Oddly enough, there are millions of women who have "perfect" bodies and still lug around insecurities and distorted images of self-worth. If I went today to get breast implants, a tummy tuck, and butt injections, there would still be countless women out there that have that same hourglass shape. Why should I think that would make me any different? Especially if I'm doing it to be "dateable."

Our little girls are watching. And the last thing I want to teach my daughter, should I ever have one, is that she isn't enough. Children have very absorbent minds and they pick up on everything. So insecurities may very well trickle down. Making lifestyle changes to become a healthier you is great. But taking shortcuts so that you become "dateable" is a slippery slope. Doing things for the wrong reasons will forever leave a void. Know that you are enough just the way that you are. Be confident in that. And anybody that doesn't believe that, just doesn't deserve your attention. Image is nothing. Who you are as a person, is everything.