[storeimy]

and I'm so sad. She came to me today as we got ready for a birthday party and said she didn't like her shorts because they showed her fat legs. She was pointing to her thighs and I said no sweetie, your legs are strong and healthy. Everyone's thighs are a bit bigger. (She's not heavy at all by the way.) So she seemed satisfied and off we went. So at the party she ran up to me and said that Johnathon (a little boy in the neighborhood) said she was fat. I was floored. I said no honey, you know that's not true! Don't listen to that kind of talk. My heart hurt so badly. I wonder if he's said something to her before that's caused her to feel this way.

I'm not a thin woman and could stand to shed some baby weight but I'm comfortable with myself for the most part and I never talk about my weight in a negative fashion in front of her. I'm healthy and active and we ride bikes and walk together. I try to emphasize being healthy and strong. I'm sure she has absorbed some negativity from some of the kids at school. I'm just so saddened that she is already touched by this media obsessed culture to be a stick figure. It's just awful. I want so badly for my girls to love their bodies and feel comfortable in their skin. Now my 4 yr old is saying her legs are fat too having heard this from her sister.

Have any other mamas of girls dealt with this? Thanks....

 

[mamangazelle]

Dd once told me that. I told her that she ate healthy food, that she was actie: she moved a lot, played a lot, learned a lot, and that she was healthy, never sick, etc, so that her body was PERFECT the way it was. She is built strong (very muscular, with strong bones, and VERY tall for her age),but not fat at all, so I didn't want her to get wrong ideas, and it seemed like she is now happy with her body.

I wish I could say the same about her glasses

she got teased about those a lot, especialy from strangers at the park...

 

[storeimy]

Oh I'm sorry she gets teased about her glasses. Kids can be so cruel. I usually try to get them to have some compassion for the child who is saying the hurtful things like (in our case) "Johnathon's parents must not have taught him that talking like that will really hurt someone's feelings. That's pretty sad." I'm glad your DD is happy with her body now and I hope Hannah will be too.