From the author: For a year now I have been writing notes “Diaries of a Slim Girl,” and now for me this is no longer just an advertisement, but a special space for reflection and experimentation. I would be interested in receiving feedback from those who read my notes. What do you think about the topic under consideration? The heart of a woman... How, when, inside a little girl with a teddy bear is a woman born? What influences what it will be like? She can be bright, free, talented, kind, loving. Or maybe closed, reserved, fearful, quiet, inconspicuous... How does she choose what kind of person she should become?... My youngest daughter will soon be thirteen. A difficult age. Her friends already look mature, tall and developed, but my daughter is a petite, thin girl. She has been studying music since the age of five, is interested in science, plays in children's theater, she is very developed emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually. Often watching her and her friends, I am amazed at their maturity. Recently, their school announced a casting call for participation in a talent competition. My daughter wanted to participate in it. She decided to perform artistic reading and vocals, and spent a long time choosing works. My daughter consulted with me, and we decided that Asadov’s poem “Love Treason and the Sorcerer” and the song of the “Melnitsa” group “Vorozhi” would be suitable for the competition. Asadov’s poem speaks in simple, understandable, in our opinion, language about the life choice of good or evil, about accepting oneself, about humanity, about accepting femininity. And the song is about how a girl tells fortunes “for her betrothed,” peering into images and desires; the song’s style is very similar to my daughter’s voice. She prepared and was worried about performing the chosen pieces well. After the casting, her daughter came home calm and serious. To my question: “How was the casting?”, she answered casually: “It didn’t pass.” I was discouraged... I heard her rehearsals, she sang beautifully... It turns out that she, like her classmate, did not pass the casting because the teachers who conducted it decided that the girls were too young to talk and sing about love ! The teachers sent them home with an offer to learn a children's song.... As far as I know my child and that second girl, their concept of “love” includes everything only sublimely spiritual and nothing that would be embarrassing to say on stage. My daughter bitterly told me that Juliet was thirteen and everyone admires her... I , trying to help her child, replied that Juliet had a bad ending. And do you know what my daughter answered me? “Mom, what are you... She stayed with her beloved...” I felt ashamed for my cynicism, for the treacherous attempt to dampen my daughter’s aspirations for self-expression, for love in its highest sense... And how many such cases were there when I was blamed attempts to express the best feelings in my life? And in yours?...How do you express yourself now? How free? Yes, I tried to do everything so that after this incident, love would not become an obscene concept for my daughter. And also so that my daughter does not lose faith in the kindness of adults and respect for teachers. So that in the future she would not come to a psychologist with the problem of the inability to express her feelings and desires. After all, to love and desire means to live truly, fully, happily. As a psychologist, I often work with people who were once afraid and unconsciously decided not to express themselves, to hide. And so someone hides in excess weight, quietly overeating, someone in workaholism, remaining alone, someone simply goes into loneliness and illness, thereby justifying their fear of life itself. Especially for you, those who have not accepted and wants to learn or hone his ability to make informed decisions in any situation, defend his own opinion and maintain dignity in difficult and even conflict situations, I suggest participating in the lesson “Basics of confident behavior and behavior in conflict situations”"