To want my mum to say I look nice at the age of 46!

[MerryMarigold]

I feel like I should be too old to care by now but...

I was a bridesmaid in the summer. There was also an event the day before which I dressed up for. I was quite focused on losing weight in the summer (lost 5kg), which put me down a dress size and I felt great on both days. I showed the pics to my mum and dad last Sunday. As we were flicking through we got to one that I had tons of compliments on when I put it on Facebook and neither of them said anything about me looking nice. I think it was then that it dawned on me that they hadn't said once that I looked good in any of the pictures. They complimented things I'd made/ done for the events but not me. I noticed but didn't feel much till yesterday when I suddenly thought about it properly and felt really sad. They are very loving in other ways. We went on holiday with them in the summer and had a good time.

Am I being really over sensitive? I'm a big girl now and DH plus my friends said I looked great, so why do I even care?

Honestly, this really isn't worth spending another second thinking about. My parents hardly ever (maybe never?) comment on my appearance - I just don't think it occurs to them. As long as you have a good relationship with them, please be happy with that.

Yes, it would be nice if they were complimentary about your appearance, but perhaps they feel that your skills (e.g. the items you made) are more important than your looks?

My mam has only ever told me I look nice when I've been slim. I know she isn't doing this on purpose but she was always very fixated on her weight and put herself through a lot to lose it, she seems uncomfortable that I don't care if I'm a bit bigger. I know she genuinely thinks I don't look as nice with the weight on, and that's find, she's allowed to have an opinion. Providing she isn't negative unnecessarily, she can think what she likes.

Yep. They're skills people, not appearance people. They clearly love you very much and admire your abilities. To be honest I think that's better than focusing on appearance.
You have plenty of people who responded positively about how you looked that that day. Let your parents love, appreciate and admire you in their own way.

Thank you. You're all right. I feel much better!