Tween Date #2: For Moms & Daughters

My tween daughter, Lexi tells me this was her favorite date. Of course, we've officially only had two dates. But, what matters is that she's very positive and excited about this date concept. It's not that we didn't have mom/daughter time in the past. I've always kept us busy out and about with activities. This is different, though, because it really does give us the exercises to talk about the stuff that really matters to Lexi. We are following Dannah Gresh's book "8 Great Dates for Moms & Daughters". We start this date out by listening to the recording that Dannah's website has posted about models in advertisements and how much touch-up work is done to enhance their images. The narrator discusses women like Kate Winslet and Julia Roberts who stand up for a more natural display of their appearances. Our Bible verse also reminds us that our most natural self is the beauty that God sees and desires for us. Does Lexi question why we are going for a facial? No, I can tell she's happy to be going regardless. Nonetheless, I explain that it's okay to enhance our beauty a little - to take care of what God has given us with quality skin products. We just won't want to overdo it by being fake. Lexi and I arrive at our Mary Kay Director's, Aleesa's, house.

With some great warm-up questions to Lexi, we move forward with ease. We go over the 5 steps in taking care of your skin. I like the education component and it's a good way to get Lexi engaged - she thinks about the answers reflectively. After the first step of washing our faces, we take some pictures to record the process our skin goes through.

And we get some pampering with satin lips & hands. I can tell Lexi likes the attention.

Of course, the facial mask if so much fun for picture-taking. This is where we really roll up our sleeves and get into the heart of mommy/daughter vulnerability.

She oohs and aahs over the smells, the feel and the looks of everything. I am thoroughly enjoying myself, watching my daughter. The experience is enhanced by Aleesa's fun personality. We do the personality lip test called "Kiss and Tell". Lexi reminds Aleesa near the end that she really wants to do this. So, she kisses the "kiss and tell" paper and we compare it against the lips on the personality test list. Lexi comes up Passion's Princess. Oh so fitting!

And finally we are all done, and ready for our "after" picture.

On the way home, we listen to the post-date MP3 audio file, and we do the activity on the way home. We discuss our different physical characteristics and what we like or don't like so much about them. It's always fun to learn a little something about Lexi. We can both recognize the fact that "God knitted each of us in the womb" just as we are.