7 Year Old: "Mom, I'm fat." (legal, parent, girls)
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Other than yearly checkups with the doctor, I was totally oblivious to my weight until I was maybe...11 or 12. I had no knowledge of how much I weighed, I didn't care how much I weighed. We had a scale, but I never really cared enough to bother standing on it.
I don't recall having been pudgy, or skinny, and photographs of me in early elementary school depict me as a little on the slim side but not gangly. When I hit I think 5th grade, that was when I became "aware" of my own body type. Even then I wasn't concerned about it, I was just aware of it. Puberty hormones and what not.
I can't imagine how insane this world has to be, to provide a poisonous petri dish of image obsession, such that a 7-year-old would even KNOW to about her weight, let alone comment on it.
Direct your child to the CDC website. All children are alert to websites these days. The charts there will indicate. And yes if the child is overweight all attempts should be made to help the child. It is a serious national problem.
My DD7 has a stockier frame. She really is big boned. Her head is larger than mine and her entire frame is built more like my mom. My mom isn't overweight. She just has a large bone structure. DD is the same way. I was getting concerned because DD was heavy for her age. Her pediatrician never mentioned anything to me about changing her diet, or watching her weight, so I asked at one of her well-visits and the doctor said that she is healthy and had a heavy frame. We do watch what she eats and make sure she gets a good diet, but she does still carry a bit of the baby fat (not much, just enough to give her a bit of softness). She is also very active.
She also grows out and then up. When she is getting ready for a growth spurt, her belly gets a bit of a roundness to it. After she has finished growing, her belly is flat again.
One day when she was 6, she came home from school and I caught her staring into a mirror and sucking in her belly. She told me that she wants to be skinny like X (a girl in her class). It broke my heart. I talked to her about nutrition and exercise, but also talked to her about how different people are built differently. I just know that with her build and her round face, she will never look like one of the super skinny girls and don't want her to feel like she is fat when she is just built differently than those girls.
I had the opposite problem growing up and was too skinny. No matter what I tried, I could not gain weight. I was very excited when I hit 100 lbs a few years after I finished growing at 5'7". I know what is feels like to be picked on because you look different than everyone else and I don't want the same thing to happen to my DD.
I have to say that I am glad that some of the pretty/sexy actresses are now curvy (think Scarlett Johansson), but I think we still have a long way to go before it becomes more acceptable for someone to have a curvier figure.
Your situation sounds exactly like mine. I have a daughter who is going to be 10 years old in February. She is, I believe, 5' 1 or 2" tall and weighs 117lbs, at her last visit to her ped in November. She does not eat junk food all day, we have healthy food in our house and I portion her meals for her. She is very active, swims every Wednesday and runs around at recess every day at school. We also try to walk a few times per week.
She is also saying she is fat, and this really irritates me to no end. I do not feel she is fat, she also has a heavier frame from her Dad's side of the family and I know that when she goes through puberty she will probably thin out more. I tell her that she is perfect, exactly how God wants her to be and that everyones body is different, just like everyone looks different and just because she is taller than everyone in her class does not mean she has to diet. I really wish the word fat would be taken out of the English dictionary.
Your situation sounds exactly like mine. I have a daughter who is going to be 10 years old in February. She is, I believe, 5' 1 or 2" tall and weighs 117lbs, at her last visit to her ped in November. She does not eat junk food all day, we have healthy food in our house and I portion her meals for her. She is very active, swims every Wednesday and runs around at recess every day at school. We also try to walk a few times per week.
She is also saying she is fat, and this really irritates me to no end. I do not feel she is fat, she also has a heavier frame from her Dad's side of the family and I know that when she goes through puberty she will probably thin out more. I tell her that she is perfect, exactly how God wants her to be and that everyones body is different, just like everyone looks different and just because she is taller than everyone in her class does not mean she has to diet. I really wish the word fat would be taken out of the English dictionary.
GREAT post. To me, [i]healthy[i] is much more important than being thin. Of course the two aren't mutually exclusive by any means, but I'd rather have a slightly larger child who eats well and exercises often than a skinny kid who eats junk and lays around all day, but remains thin because of a good metabolism, genetics, whatever.
Children (and their parents) should be made aware of the importance of good food choices. I don't have a problem with educating parents about healthy BMIs or banning empty-calorie foods from schools.
If I were Queen of the World I'd institute:
1) public gymnasiums where all citizens who are physically able would be required to work out five days a week with exceptions for those who play sports or get their exercise through some other means.
2) No more government subsidies of corn, soy, factory farms and other crops that produce unhealthy food.
3) Only healthy ingredients in school cafeteria lunches.
3) Primary care physicians would be paid based partially on patient outcomes. The goal would be to prevent disease when possible rather than treating symptoms.
4) A national junk food tax on soda, candy, twinkies, etc. The money collected would be used to fund a national health care plan.
One-third of U.S. children are overweight and so are 50 percent of adults, according to Michelle Obama's campaign to get kids moving. Something has to change or else our kids will live shorter lifespans than their great-grandparents.
Being taught healthy eating habits has very little to do with developing an ED. It is not just the kids who eat junk food who get EDs.
We agree and disagree here. I am aware of how a family that doesn't allow any junk food into their homes could cause eating disorders in their children. But I disagree that being taught healthy eating habits has little to do with developing an eating disorder. Did you glance at the site I posted?
Quote:
The most positive way for parents to influence their children's eating habits and to prevent weight problems and eating disorders is to have healthy eating habits themselves.
When you consider the list of causes, the parents have a strong influence for many of the causes. Granted, there are causes that are exceptions. But I'm talking overall.
I guess the real problem is that you and I think we have different definitions of what healthy eating habits are. Chances are we are truly in agreement. Healthy eating habits isn't about not eating junk food. Healthy eating habits is having a healthy food habits, a healthy view of food, and an accurate healthy self image.
Anyways, I'm done in this thread--for other reasons. Send me a DM if you want to discuss further between us. I always enjoy your views on topics, Katiana.
I can't remember a time when I wasn't aware that I was fat. I grew up being told how huge I was, how I was twice as big as my mom at that (every) age, how no man would ever marry me if he couldn't fit his hands around my waist, how I was fatter than my sister, when I got spanked she said I couldn't feel it because of all my blubber, etc.
What's funny is that when I look back at pictures from my childhood, I wasn't that big. My sisters got the same loving treatment that I did. I have one sister who has gained weight so rapidly since she's been away at school that her upper arms look like hams and she has stretch marks everywhere. My other sister has a problem with her perception of sizes...I go shopping with her, she will take everything from a size 12 to a 26 into the fitting room with her and be surprised when it doesn't fit. If she finds a really stretchy 12 or 14, she will tell everyone that she's down to a size 12, when she's really wearing a 22 in jeans. I have my own issues as well.
I've tried not to raise my kids to think they're fat. We don't make food an issue in our house, no one has to finish everything on their plate, they can have snacks. We exercise and call it play.
No kid needs any form of "fitness cult" as the OP puts it.
They need to be allowed to run, play and do "sweat-generating" work.
On the other hand, people let their kids do x-box, tv and hours of social media already. And on top of that food fests at home and outside. Kids get fat becoz of the parents.
Then they grow up and then embrace the "fitness cult", like taking lean cuisine lunch to the office LMAO. Weight watchers. Don't get me started Skim milk and not-fat yogurt adults are sad And that's coz they never got the memo as kids. This is when they speak about quinoa and raw broccoli like unicorns and pink elephants.
"I ate broccoli and celery dipped in non-fat, sugar-free, artificially sweetened mustard dip"
We agree and disagree here. I am aware of how a family that doesn't allow any junk food into their homes could cause eating disorders in their children. But I disagree that being taught healthy eating habits has little to do with developing an eating disorder. Did you glance at the site I posted?
When you consider the list of causes, the parents have a strong influence for many of the causes. Granted, there are causes that are exceptions. But I'm talking overall.
I guess the real problem is that you and I think we have different definitions of what healthy eating habits are. Chances are we are truly in agreement. Healthy eating habits isn't about not eating junk food. Healthy eating habits is having a healthy food habits, a healthy view of food, and an accurate healthy self image.
Anyways, I'm done in this thread--for other reasons. Send me a DM if you want to discuss further between us. I always enjoy your views on topics, Katiana.
Well, thanks. I used to have a large number of bookmarks about eating disorders, however, we got a new computer and I lost them. However, it's always the parents' fault, isn't it? I'm saying this as one parent to another. Parents are always getting blamed for whatever. Here is a lenghly article about causes of eating disorders. I probably can't do it justice by quoting three sentences.
Eating disorders are complex conditions that can arise from a variety of potential causes. Once started, however, they can
create a self-perpetuating cycle of physical and emotional destruction. All eating disorders require professional help.
One (and I emphasize just one) cause: History of being teased or ridiculed based on size or weight
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Skim milk and not-fat yogurt adults are sad 
And that's coz they never got the memo as kids. This is when they speak about quinoa and raw broccoli like unicorns and pink elephants.
