Aleida's Challenge

A few years ago, my good friend Emilie, started what she calls the Aleida Challenge.  Here is the story behind it through Emilie's words:

 

Aleida and I came together through the scrapbooking industry.  She emailed me to tell me she loved my blog and to ask if I like my short hair-cut. This lead to a series of emails which eventually led me to remark that I really loved how often she posted pictures of herself with her children on her blog. And she replied to me, "Have you ever seen a photograph of your own mother and thought to yourself how fat she looked? Or how she wasn't wearing make-up? Or wasn't dressed in a glamorous outfit?" Of course my answer was no.

She then responded with saying that she made it a goal to take a picture of herself with her children at least once every month. And that to use excuses about how we look, as women, is ridiculous, since our children will never care what we looked like, but only that we had physical evidence of the bond between mother and child.  Read her lovely blog post about it here.

 

On September 8th, 2008 Aleida blogged a photo of herself, smiling, that read "Live today like there is no tomorrow."  On September 12th, 2008 Aleida was struck by another car on her way to work and passed away, leaving 2 small children and a grieving husband. She was 41 years old. 

 

I have made it my personal goal to follow her wise suggestion and I now take photos of myself with my children....double chins, make-up free, bed-head and all.

I invite Mothers everywhere to take Aleida's Challenge.  To photograph yourself with your children each and every month. And to post them here or use hashtag #ALEIDASCHALLENGE on twitter and instagram, so that we can see Aleida's legacy unfolding.

Each month/week (dependiong on how many there are) I will share my favorites on Instagram, so make sure to tag your photos and follow me (PluckyMomo) to see if your photo was chosen.



Now I have started this challenge myself this January and hope to continue for as long as I can. Time with my children is beyond precious to me and to document that time is a blessing.  I hope you will join me in this wonderful challenge that may seem small now, but will be priceless to you and your children in the future.

Comments

[Linda M.]

Wow, how thought provoking, I am going to go and kiss my sweethearts right now. When my kids were in Mommy and Me I would take the school pictures with them, but other moms did not. I would tell them the class is "Mommy and Me" and that their kids would appreciate the photo when they were grown.

[Diana Evensen]

Thank you for sharing Aleida's lovely (but sad) story. My sons are all fully grown, so I'm not able to get pictures with them every month. However, I pledge to not care how I look and just let photos happen.