Hello, all. I have a question/concern to all of the mommies out there. My daughter is 4 years old & has recently added the word "fat" to her vocabulary. Unfortunately, in our large family, only three of the adults is at a normal weight (both of my parents & my brother). As a matter of fact, I am almost certain that most of the remainder could be considered obese, & 3 of us are morbidly obese (sadly, I am one of the three).
My issue is actually two-fold. My daughter is thin & there have be times when she'll say "mommy, if I ate that I would be really fat". I don't know how to deal with this, so all I have said is "Hmmm, is that right?", or something just as lame as that. My dilemma stems from MY issues with weight. I don't want to tell her that being fat is okay, because its not. I'm not only talking looks, but in terms of health, comfort, shopping, & dating, you just have a lot more options open to you without carrying all of that weight around.
Also, I don't want to her to have weight issues. I went on my 1st diet at 10 years old at the insistence of my father (that stupid diet where you eat a ton of beets, cauliflower, etc. ) & with each attempt have only managed to gain it all back & then some. When I look at pictures from my childhood, I was AT WORST chubby, and I am certain that my weight issues would have found a way to fix themselves if I would have been shoved out the door to play.
Long story short (too late) I want to know how I can balance the importance of health/nutrition with the knowledge that a person of large size isn't lazy, or lacking in any personality traits that makes them a decent human being.
Is there anyone out there who has dealt with this problem? If so, how did you resolve it without letting the issues from your substandard upbringing impact how you interact with your children regarding weight?