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This essay began with a memory of being a teenager while the girls around me talked about changing their faces and bodies. Some used mine as a point of comparison. When I told them I wished they could see their own beauty, they said it was easy for me to say. I heard the hurt beneath that answer.

Years later, I still think about the children who are taught to see themselves as a project to improve—and the children whose beauty makes adults forget they need protection too. Pressure can come from friends, screens, industries, and sometimes even from home.

Protecting the Pearls from Day One is my reflection on giving children room to grow into themselves. Necessary medical care must remain available. But no child should have to alter their body to satisfy someone else’s idea of beauty.

I believe every child is seen by God from day one. Every child deserves dignity, safety, and time to discover who they are.

The full essay is attached below.

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