Hypersensitivity: My Daughter's Words

My daughter is six years old.  It is a pretty fun age.  She's full of interesting thoughts and lessons such as when teaching her about solid, liquid and gas I said, "Generally you do not see gasses because many of them are invisible to us."  She responded with, "Yeah I know you just put it straight in the car."

So you can imagine how taken aback I was when the other night she threw on a tank top and sweat pants and said, "Mommy I think I lost some weight!" She was smiling and happy and I was floored.  She went into further detail about nutri grain bars....and I knew who the culprit was.

My kid isn't overweight.  Like not in the slightest.  Like if I was six again we wouldn't pass for relatives.

In a world where so many young children are an inch away from blood pressure medicine and type two diabetes and vomiting in the bathroom after snack time I cannot take what she said lightly.  

I'm very hypersensitive to this issue.  I spent my childhood being fed salads and my demented grandma (who wasn't demented then) ridiculing me for being a big kid when I was younger.  She compared me to my waif thin cousins who had the metabolism of a Kenyan.  My mom spent my entire childhood constantly asking me if she looked fat, sucking in her stomach, and eating crackers for meals.

Yeah, I'm jaded.

I spent a few years in Duke basketball shirts sized OSFA and gym shorts because I didn't know how to handle developing so early and I couldn't deal with not being a size 5T at twelve years old like some other people.

We don't talk about weight in this house (unless we are joking with my husband, he's a thin man).  I would appreciate it if other people would keep it quiet around my kid too.  In case no one has realized we live in an ultra sensitive society where kids are doing drastic things if they aren't the perfect look, size, or treated right.  I like to think I am building strong kids with good minds and internal voices.  However, I cannot be sure of my job until further down the road.

Take heed people and pay attention to what you say around your kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, cousins, god kids, students, etc.  They are watching and scrutinizing every word that comes out of your mouths.  They are living in a hell of a culture that is just waiting to screw them up.

Uncool.