Mouths of Babes

So talking about my weight has been off limits for my daughter for a while now. She had hurt my feelings a couple of times when she was younger (she's now 7) so we explained to her why it wasn't appropriate to talk about someone's weight. She's really good about it but she has a funny way of still talking about it. For example, there were these pictures of extreme things that I was showing her. One was of people climbing to see someone like the Dalai Lama. They were walking on 2x4s attached to the side of a steep cliff & it looked terrifying. I said to Emily, "Can you imagine that? I would NEVER do that." She said, "I would. I mean, I understand why you wouldn't want to. I mean, well, you know how you are. I mean, I know why you'd be scared but I'm little and you're, well, you know, I don't need to say it."

Then recently, she was dropped off at an appointment and as I went to pick her up, the woman said, "Wow! You really have lost weight!" I asked why she said it like that - what had Emily said? And she said that Emily was bragging about how much weight I had lost and she could wrap her arms around me now.

It really hit me how much my weight affects her. I mean, I've heard how heavy parents can embarrass their kids at school, but she really has a NEED for me to be healthier. She watches what I eat and asks if I'm supposed to eat it. She said recently, "I ask you about what you're supposed to eat because I want you to be as healthy as possible so I want to make sure you're eating right." And I thoroughly believe that. I think we don't give our kids enough credit about how our health, or lack thereof, affects them and their sense of well being.

Hopefully, soon we'll see the end of comments about, well, you know how I am, I don't need to say it.