[MommaTrish]

I agree, you shouldn't just talk to little girls (or boys for that matter) about how they look, or just compliment them on looks, but to just not ever? No, I can't agree with that. There are kids out there who never get told their pretty, or that they're cute, or that they have nice clothes. They have parents who just don't care or only put them down.
And the clothes part, come on, in my experience kids LOVE talking about their clothes. It wasn't "Oh my shirt is cuter than her shirt," it's usually "Oh! Mrs Tricia! Look at my AWESOME dinosaur shirt!!" or "Look! My shirt is pink and it has a star and it's glittery!!" I always tried to find one thing to compliment each kid on everyday. And that's not counting things like "You did an awesome job counting!" or "I love the way you drew ______." Everything they did for me got something pointed out in a positive way. Even the kids who just scribbled all over their papers.

But that's just my 2 cents.

Also, when I was going through my awkward pre-pubescent stage - WAY earlier than all my friends - I never felt ugly, or fat, or anything like that, because I had heard my whole life that I was pretty or beautiful or cute, and I was still told that. I'd hate for Bella to go through that stage not knowing how beautiful she is to us just because she's also smart (or because I want her to see herself as smart).