We were standing at the deli counter waiting to be helped when my 6-year-old looked up at me and cheerfully said, “Let’s take a picture, mama!”

My initial instinct was to say NO, as my mind flooded with a million reasons as to why I did NOT want to take a picture.

We had just got back from vacation and I was totally drained. Not to mention the fact that I looked like a football player wearing eye black! I desperately needed to wash my hair, I was hot, sweaty and felt super unattractive. And let’s not forget all the lovely wrinkles that have recently appeared around my eyes. Taking a picture was the last thing I wanted to do.

“Come on mama, get out your phone. I want to take a picture with you!” she begged.

As much as I wanted to say no, I didn’t. I pulled out my phone, put it in selfie mode and tried my best to look enthusiastic about posing with my daughter in the middle of the grocery store.

After we took the picture she looked at it and gasped with excitement, “We look beautiful!”

Just as I was thinking about how terrible I looked, an older woman approached us and said, “Good job, mom! Take those pictures. Even if you don’t want to…always take those pictures!” The way she said it got me thinking — this picture is not about me and how I look — It’s about my daughter wanting to take a picture with me.

I looked at the picture again and saw how my daughter was standing beside me — arms wrapped around my neck — just beaming. Although I felt totally exhausted and self-conscious about my appearance, my beautiful little girl didn’t care about any of that.

She didn’t care that my wrinkles and dark circles really show up in the florescent lighting.

She didn’t care that my hair was a mess.

She was just happy to be taking a picture with her mama — her mama that loves her, comforts her, supports her and protects her.

It’s easy to critique ourselves — to fill our heads with nonsense that we aren’t good enough. But we need to remember that no matter how we see ourselves, our kids think we are pretty darn perfect just as we are. They really could care less about how our hair looks or if we have a few wrinkles. In their eyes, we’re rockstars.

So, when your kids ask you to take a picture…DO IT!

And instead of worrying about how you look in the photo, focus on the pride and joy on your kids faces!

I promise, you won’t regret it.

This post was originally seen on Moms Of The Whine Table.

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