What a beautiful and inspiring story by Rebekah Lowin over at Today.com. For years, photographer Kate T. Parker had been taking pictures of her daughters as they grew up, doing what most kids love to do, when all of a sudden a powerful idea emerged:

A mother, wife, and commercial and fine-art photographer, Parker has also been an athlete her entire life. “I grew up playing sports, and the girls I emulated were the girls that were really strong and confident,” she says. “They didn’t have the time to worry about how they looked, and so I came to understand that their worth was determined by something different, something stronger.”

That personal history might explain why “Strong is the New Pretty” feels so intensely powerful: It’s authentic. When her own girls, Ella, age 9, and Alice, age 6, started to show an interest in taking names on the soccer field and stomping around in mud puddles, Parker wanted them to understand that they, too, should value personal character and strength over any societally-established beauty norms.

As she puts it, “This kind of girl — who has dirt on her shoes and doesn’t want to put a bow in her hair — she’s beautiful, too.”

They are beautiful, and strong. So often those two go together. This is what growing up should be like for every kid.

Via Lauren Laverne.