How To Discuss Weight With Your Kids
Is weight one of the taboo topics along with drugs and sex? Are we too afraid to discuss weight with our kids?
Yup. I would even go a step farther and say that I am more comfortable discussing sex than weight with most people, including my kids.
I am but I didn't realize that until I started watching this video (below). But it's true, talking about weight with your kids is so laden with concern of triggering an eating disorder that we avoid it or we panic.
My daughter is only five but recent studies have shown that even five-year-olds are worried about "being fat". My 11-year-old son's worry about being too skinny and not muscular enough is right on target as boys are a growing group of those affected by eating disorders.
What if one of your kids is getting a little on the chubby side? I thought the experts in the video had some good ideas about how to keep the discussion positive and to keep in mind that as kids go into puberty sometimes they do get a little chubby. (There is a difference between chubbiness in puberty and obesity - if you are concerned go to your doctor.)
Before we can talk to our kids about weight, though, we have to cleanse the words diet and fat from our vocabulary. We set the tone, we hit the panic button. But it's not easy in this weight-obsessed society and for our kids we have to do better.
Do you discuss weight with your kids? Yours or theirs?
Want more chaos? Last year, I wondered how to support friends who were struggling how to get pregnant.
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