Quote:
Originally Posted by jskinner
I know he didn't mean it in a hurtful way and that he does love me. It just really sucks the breath right out of me. My other kids have said or done things as well but they're younger and don't know any better. I've talked with him many times about fat not being a nice word because people outside the home have come up. I guess I really need to work harder to be where I want and should be. But I also need to watch what I say more closely as well. It's hard for him to understand why he can't call me fat when I call myself fat all the time. Strike 1 for mom of the year nomination
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I hope this doesn't come across like I'm piling on for something you are already beating yourself up over, but I do have to agree that what you show your child about how you feel about your body gets reflected back at you.
I know someone who tells the story of her young child getting on the scale and saying "oh, ugh!" at the number. She thought it was funny but it bothered me a lot. So I made a focused effort to avoid anything like that and from the time my son was tiny, we cheered each other for whatever the scale said. At almost 6, he is aware that I'm "trying to get smaller" but we don't dwell on it and he is not really too clear on what I even mean by that because he keeps asking if he's bigger than me yet.
It's a little late to put the genie back into the bottle, and I do think that it also depends a lot on how old your son is, but I also think that the more you can present an image of being happy with your body, even as you try to improve your life by losing weight to become more fit and healthy, you may find more of that reflected back to you by your son.
A Little Depressed
My youngest was about 3 the time he walked in on my getting dressed and goes "Mom, you belly jiggles when you bend like that, its funny!" Obviously I was not as amused as him!
