When I was 22 I said, “I’ll have a baby when I am 23.” When I was 23 I thought, oooo there are just a few more things I would like to do before I have a baby, I’ll have a baby when I’m 24. When I was 24… and on it went. 10 years later I am practiced at many varied and highly creative methods of birth control. It’s amazing to me that I can find eight different types of gluten free crackers but I still can’t find adequate birth control. Here are a few things I have tried:

This is the fourth time I’ve started this column over in an attempt to keep my objective voice out and leave the subjective to speak for itself. It’s not working very well.

I’ll start with the facts: A controversial ad campaign sponsored by the Strong4Life campaign and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta is pointing the finger of fat shame directly at our children and getting plenty of tongues wagging. “Warning: It’s hard to be a little girl if you’re not” reads one message under the photo of a chubby girl. Her eyes, just like the eyes of the other children featured in the ads, are accusatory. More text included in the campaign reads "Being fat takes the fun out of being a kid" and "My fat may be funny to you, but it’s killing me.”

(If you hear music with this post, scroll down and pause the video until you're ready to watch!)

When I think back to being 13, which my mother calls my “door slamming year,” I shake a bit in my pink patent leather go-go boots because I know one day my 5-year-old will be a tween, and paybacks can be sweet, eh?

This past year, I spent five months traveling the country, answering the anonymous questions of teen girls at universities on my book tour for What’s Up Down There? Questions You’d Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend. Afterwards, dozens of them came up to say they wished they could have talked to their mothers about body stuff the way they felt they could talk to me. (Aw, shucks.)

As a mother myself, it reminds me of the importance of making our daughters feel safe to talk to us about anything. If she can’t come to us, who will she go to? Her best friend? An internet chat room? Sheesh!