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Slipping Into Confidence: How My Daughter’s Short Shorts Taught Me to Love My Body Again
A personal journey of self-acceptance, body confidence, and a little rebellion
A pair of denim cutoffs lay on my bed, tiny and frayed, looking like they belonged to someone far more daring than me. Someone younger, someone bolder, someone who hadn’t spent the last decade covering up more and more of herself.
And yet, they weren’t just any shorts.
They were my teenage daughter’s — abandoned in a pile of “too big” clothes she no longer wanted.
As I held them up, my first instinct was to toss them into the donation bin without a second thought. But then, something stopped me.
I hadn’t worn shorts like this in years. And for some reason, I suddenly wondered… Why not?
The Unspoken Rule: Moms Don’t Wear Short Shorts
I had always told myself that I chose not to wear shorts. That I preferred sundresses, flowy skirts, and capris. That I was simply more comfortable in looser, forgiving fabrics.
But the truth was, at some point in my thirties, I had started believing that shorts — especially short shorts — weren’t meant for me anymore.
