This trend disturbs me. No, not the childhood obesity trend. Well, I guess it does disturb me a little, but not as much as this trend:
Young girls who are worried about their weight or who are on diets. I believe that dieting when you’re a child or teenager is about one of the worst things a body can do. I would much rather see a girl with a little meat on her bones than one who is limiting her calories during a period of rapid growth.
This hits home because I am concerned about my 4 year old daughter. She weighed in at 10 pounds the day she was born. She couldn’t even fit into her newborn clothes and skipped right to 6-9 months. During my pregnancy with her I ate better than I ever had in my life and took all kinds of whole food supplements. And it showed right on her cheeks and thighs. I think she’s beautiful with her big round cheeks complete with dimples, round arms and thighs and soft belly. But sometimes her brothers let the “f” word slip out of their mouths. Not in a hateful way, more in a descriptive way, as in “Ilana’s kinda fat”.
I try not to look or sound upset. Of course, it does upset me that they think that, because she isn’t fat at all, but why are their eyes already influenced that way, thinking that normal healthy girl flesh is fat? I remind them never to say that word in reference to her or anyone else, and I also remind them that Ilana is simply a big girl like her Dad’s female relatives (her Dad and my sons are small boned and skinny, and she is built like his cousins, big blonde German frauleins who have long legs up to __ here__ and who you wouldn’t want to mess with on the soccer field.). I’m not worried about her weight, because she eats a good diet and gets plenty of exercise, so her weight is therefore genetically normal for her.
In fact I worry more about my sons and how thin they are. I know the bones need fat reserves at the ends of the joints in order for the bones to grow properly, and despite the fact that they eat every 20 minutes, or so it seems, they’re both skinny as rails. I have a hard time finding pants that fit the two of them. If they are right in length, they’re gaping huge at the waist, and if they fit at the waist, they’re too short. They’re the No-Butt Brothers.
Here is a link to an article on a blog I’ve enjoying for some time now called Junk Food Science that talks about a University of Georgia study about girls as young as 4 who are obsessed with their bodies already. What?!
Dieting during youth has got to be the single biggest predictor of lifelong weight problems. It just breaks my heart when I hear mothers talking about how fat they are or the latest diet this or that. I also cringe inside when I hear mothers expressing concerns about their daughter’s weight. I think they’re doing far more damage to their little girls than a few extra pounds that will probably come off when the growth spurts hit (or won’t…. who cares?).
What do you think? And how do you shield your little girls from negative impressions around weight?
p.s. That’s not my Ilana, it’s a stock photo. 
I was always sensitive about this as a young girl too because we would all get weighed in gym in front of each other and I was always the heaviest girl. I have always been solid muscle and I was a teenager and I was still ashamed of my weight. I weighed 160 pounds and I was wearing a size 4. I was lean but not skinny by any means and I could bench press all my female friends, LOL. I got my dad’s brawn for sure.
I was never aware of anything like this as a kid. Being homeschooled, only allowed two hours of TV per day (and very restricted with what we watched), not allowed to see movies much (i honestly don’t remember going to see a movie as a little kid), no magazines like cosmo around the home, and no mainstream music (only christian) I didn’t have the opportunity to be around any images that promote being thin, beautiful, rich, famous…etc.
Plus times have just plain old changed from when we were kids. There weren’t the US Weekly magazines, the vast aray of entertainment shows, the girls in the paper and being famous for just being rich and pretty.
I don’t have girls, but that doesn’t mean my little boys couldn’t fall victim to feeling pressure to look perfect. Not as many boys probably struggle with body image and weight, but it does happen.
I wish I had the magic words or the wisdom to know how to handle things like this. For me it’s going to be a figure it out as you go along.
Nell your self esteem has probably been positively impacted by that. I am determined to keep fashion mags away from my girls as much as possible. There is research that shows a connection between reading them and eating disorders.
Thanks for commenting Tiffany and Nell