The other morning, while we were cleaning her teeth, my four-year-old declared she was “fat”.
It came completely out of the blue and I was taken aback by the comment. Weight or body size isn’t something we tend to talk about in our household. I don’t comment on my body, or other people’s bodies, and we try to keep the focus on helping our become bodies strong and healthy when talking about food and activity.
But despite all of that, here we were. She claimed a boy at school had said it to her the day before. All of a sudden, we were rushing to get ready and entering a conversation I felt woefully unprepared for.
My mind was racing: What did it mean to her? Had she understood it as an insult? In the space of a few seconds, I realised I wasn’t just answering a question about bodies – I was trying to shape the way she might think about hers f...
English (US)