Like many girls her age, Riley wishes she had long blonde, beautiful, Barbie-doll locks to twirl through her fingers.
But unfortunately, the left side of this picture represents her dream, while the right side paints her reality.
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Growing up with alopecia, she always felt different.
While we would all love our children to have a self-esteem made of steel, the cookie-cutter beauty standards projected in our society don’t make that an easy task.
Kids are cruel. And beyond that, everything from the branding of our children’s dolls to beauty magazines tells us that unless you’re a size 2 with perfect beach-wave hair, you’re unworthy of love.
In spite of her parents’ best efforts to love her unconditionally, poor Riley couldn’t help but let that bold-face lie seep into her little head.
One day, her mom, Chelsea, was playfully telling her daughter everyone she loved, saying “I love Riley, I love Gavin, I love Grayson, etc…”
But Riley’s unexpected response took her aback.
