Charm 101

I learned many important things in charm class but if I had to sum charm class up into the two primary reasons for charm it would be to learn how to act like a lady and how to look like a lady.  For the most part women and girls do not know how to act and look like ladies.  The women and girls that we see the most of by way of television and movies are for the most part terrible examples yet our daughters are learning from those women and girls because that is all they have to go by.

Today I would like to talk about acting like a lady.  I have heard a lot of talk of what Miley Cyrus did in public recently.  While I did not see what she did, it makes me sad to think of the vast amount of young girls who did see her terrible display and will pattern their lives after her because they do not know any better.  We have failed our daughters if they think Miley Cyrus is a good role model.  Dare I go further and say we have failed our daughters if we allow them to have Miley Cyrus as a role model.  

Today, I would like to talk about sounding like a lady.  Have you ever been in public around a group of teenagers and the one voice talking and laughing the loudest is that of a teenage girl?  It makes me cringe when I hear that because I know the poor girl does not have a mother that is teaching her the importance of being a lady.  A lady should never be the loudest one in a group.  Most of the time when that happens the girl is usually trying to get the attention of a boy and there are so many lady like ways to get that boy's attention.

Another way to sound like a lady is by the words we speak.  A lady should never curse.  There used to be a time when if a man cursed in front of a lady or children, another man would ask him to stop or they would settle it out back.  Certainly as Christians we should never curse but especially as Christian ladies we should never curse, our speech should be clean and above reproach.  

Proverbs 25:11

Another way to sound like a lady goes hand in hand with the words we speak.  The words a lady speaks should be kind and uplifting.  We would all be better off if we would practice the saying, "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it at all."  This includes gossip.  The females are well known for passing "juicy" pieces of gossip, but a Christian lady should not be well known for gossip.  Psalms 19:14

Let's determine to teach our daughters to sound like Christian young ladies, and not only teach them but lead by example.

Whatever happened to charm class?

A couple of years back when I was in junior high (LOL) I was required to take a class called "Charm" and in this class we learned how to dress, talk and act like young ladies.  We learned simple things like washing your hair brushes each week and cleaning under our fingernails with a brush.  We learned how to dress modestly, how to sit like a lady, even how to position our hands and feet when just standing and listening to someone else talk.

I would venture to say that if a charm class was offered in school today, there would be very few, if any, girls attending.  I realize times have changed but acting like a lady should never go out of style.  And even if charm is not being taught in school, it should certainly be taught in the home.  Am I saying to get a desk and set aside an hour each day to teach your daughter how to be a lady?  No, we can teach our daughters first of all by our examples.  If we as mothers do not know how to act like a lady, how can we teach our daughters?

For the next week or so I will be taking one topic from charm class and expounding on it.  Raising Godly young ladies is so important and we only get one chance to do it so we need to be sure we do it  right.  I can't even begin to tell you how many times I said to my kids, "She has probably not been taught how to act.", which is all too common.  A young lady makes such a statement by the way she acts and what she does.  For example, have you ever seen a lady that you thought was very pretty and lady like until you saw her smoking a cigarette and then your whole picture of her being a lady changed?

Just because society has changed and does not treat being a lady as a high priority, does not mean that is how we should think.  Please join me each day as we take a topic from charm class and expound upon it.  I think you will find it very interesting.

Let's determine to teach our daughters by example and be the Godly LADY that our daughters can look up to and desire to be like.