September 6, 2017

HELP! I’M BIG FOOT!!

Dear Nikki,

If you look at my nickname, you probably know my problem…I HAVE SUCH BIG FEET! I’m not even kidding! I’m only 11 years old and wear a women’s size 8 shoe. I’m such a joke, and people make fun of me ALL the time. Help!!

Big Foot

Hi Big Foot,

I feel your pain because I have big feet, too!!

Look, this falls under the category of things you have absolutely no control over. Like, if people are making fun of your clothes, you can try to change your style. If they’re making fun of your glasses, you can get contacts. (Not that you SHOULD change anything about yourself because of people who make fun, but I’m just saying, some things you can try to change.)

But the size of your feet? It’s like the height of your body type or your skin color. There is ZERO you can do to change any of those things. And also, there’s no reason big feet should be bad and small feet should be good, except that someone somewhere randomly decided it.

Also! (Sorry, I’m getting a little worked up, but I don’t like the idea of you being so upset about this.) Does anyone say boys shouldn’t have big feet? I’ve never ever heard that. So, WHY should big feet on a girl be considered…I don’t even know?! Ugly? (Honestly, big feet sound kind of awesome to me. Powerful. Like…I’m pretty sure Wonder Woman must have big feet. They’ve got to help with balance and pushing off to make giant leaps and kicking bad guys in the face!)

Also! Also! Whenever someone writes in feeling self-conscious about something like this, I always think it’s interesting to find out which celebrities have the same thing. So, I did a little research! And here’s what I found:

Khloe Kardashian is a size 10!

Kendall Jenner is a size 10!

Tyra Banks, size 12!

Kate Winslet, the main actress from Titanic, is a size 11!

Rachel Renee Russell, the author of Dork Diaries, is a size 10!

Nikki Russell, the illustrator of Dork Diaries, is a size 10 (she probably inherited her big feet from her mom)!

In fact, quite a lot of models have big feet. Because big feet often (not always, but often) go with being tall. And models are usually tall, because being tall is often considered attractive. So we’re supposed to be tall…but have small feet?!?! These are impossible beauty standards!!!

If people are making fun of the size of your feet, I think a good option is acting confused. Like you have NO idea what they’re talking about, or why the size of your feet could ever be considered insulting. (And the same thing works for a lot of other things people might make fun of.)

Or just ignore them, if you can. And walk away, thinking about all the powerful things you can do with your big feet!

Readers, is there anything about you that’s considered smaller than average, larger than average, or just plain weird?