The twitter sphere hosts #ArchiveDay on Saturdays, and over the weekend I shared “She called you WHAT?!” from last March. Bear took third grade to a whole new level when she came home upset that an adult (notably a NON-MEDICAL adult) had told her she was overweight, and she’d taken that message to heart.
I wish I could say Bear has forgotten it…that body issues were a passing fluke and it hasn’t come up at all this year…but that would be pretty far from the truth.
Here’s another mom’s heartbreaking experience with a young girl who experienced fat shaming.
“They returned to my kitchen an hour later for refreshments. As with any new visitor to my home, I asked [my daughter’s friend] what her favorite snack was and what she was hungry for.
My own child rattled off 33 different items she felt like eating, but not her friend. She was quiet and humble at my mentioning of something to eat. She passed on the typical offering of a cheese stick and a fruit juice box. While my child ransacked the pantry for goodies, she sat there with her head bowed down and her eyes fixated on the granite of my kitchen countertops…
‘Are you feeling okay? Are you just not hungry?’ I asked her.
‘I’m fine. I just need to be careful with what I eat. I’ve gained weight,’ she sheepishly responded…
And then she hit me with it.
‘My grandmother called me fat…but she apologized.’ “
Fat Shaming And Young Girls: How Has It Come To This? Scary Mommy
We have to be so careful with what we say to our girls. They are so sensitive to negative criticism. We need to tell them often how beautiful they are. Our daughters and their friends. For every negative comment they hear, they need to hear 3 positive ones to counter the effect. So they need to hear how amazing they are A LOT! And I guess we need to have a similar approach with our boys too. They are also susceptible to body shaming.
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So very true to both points. I wasn’t aware T-man was even thinking about his weight until a comment he made recently — talk about being shocked! I had no idea being overweight was even on his radar!!
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