The girls have been bringing up the subject about weight quite a bit. It’s come up a few times in front of people and has been quite embarrassing.
Today one of them asked if I would still love them if they were ginormously fat. I was significantly irritated! “Would I love you if you lost a leg? Would I love you if your hair was pink? Would I love you if you got really skinny? Of course I would still love you! These things do not have any bearing on our love for each other!”
I think people can be prejudiced based on the size of others, and I think it’s despicable so I really hate to hear this line of thinking from my children. Where is it coming from? My husband says that I talk about the weight I still have to lose after having Bobby and maybe that’s the reason, but I don’t know.
Anyway, I huffed and puffed my answer with all kinds of admonition about character and so on. When I finally came up for a breath my six-year-old practically shouted, “But Mom, I don’t think you’re fat…any more!”
Yes, I’m sure she got the idea because you talk about wanting to lose weight–and you are not even overweight. At least that is my opinion. It’s just that after being spaghetti skinny all your life, you feel the difference. My little suggestion is that when the kids say something like that, answer calmly and don’t make a big deal out of it, or it can seem more important than it is.
It is so ironic–when I was young I was skinny, and everyone teased me, and it wasn’t in style. I always wanted to gain weight just like you used to.
Yes Mother, I do realize it is not helpful to get irritated, nevertheless, I do get irritated at times. And usually I find out that I’m the problem. I’ve just come to accept that. 😉
Esther, you’re a great mother. You put your life into your kids, and I can see that all the way in Iowa 🙂
Nobody is perfect, so don’t expect yourself to be.
Oh, no! LOL