Vent Sesh: Body Image

This is so true!  I can specifically remember several times as a little girl when my mom would say seemingly innocent things like, “Kimmy, suck your stomach in (while taking a family Easter picture)” and “Wow, your stomach looks big after eating all those pancakes”.  For lots of people, those wouldn’t have an impact, but because of my perfectionistic nature & people-pleasing tendencies, it was the breeding ground for what became a severe eating disorder.  I’m thankful to be completely recovered now, but I am still very sensitive to what people say to my 8-yr-old daughter and how it affects her (because she is big-boned and tall like me) - I don’t want her to go through the same things that I did.

Not crazy at all!  It’s an increasing problem for females (of all ages) to look a certain way.  And there are people that can’t seem to understand that children of all ages and sizes should be told how beautiful they are.  It builds confidence and teaches them that beauty comes in all forms.  I was chubby as a kid, and had an uncle that called me “Chubs” until I was old enough to tell him to cut it out myself.  To this day, I refuse to have anything to do with him.  What an awful thing to call a 6 year old - and for my mom to never intervene all those years..is even worse.  And that Mean Girls mentality?  Some people never grow out of it - and they try to spread it to other people to make themselves feel better.  Ugh!            

I think it’s totally reasonable that you take notice of things like that and think about the possible affect.  But I agree that people mean absolutely nothing by that at that age.  Just that it is interesting the stages babies go through (Mine weighed the exact same from 7 mos to 17 mos!  Chunky to teeny, it was crazy.) and they feel like they are letting you know that they remember and notice your child and her changes.  

I completely agree with the sentiment behind it though!  I don’t have a girl, but I am very aware of friends that do that talk constantly about “dieting” and “fat” etc….I think it is really really bad.  I have to make a conscious effort not to do that in front of my boy, who will most likely not be tremendously affected, but I still think it’s important to eliminate that type of conversation completely and focus on the word “healthy”.  My 2 cents!