the neverending fear of fatness

[jeliza]

I just increased the dosage of kid's painkiller O gets for her headache based on the weight she was at the doctor last week, and she got all worried because of the increase. I hate the culture that makes a 10 year old assume that her weight gain is BAD even when she is growing! (And while this would also not be particularly rational if she was heavy, the girl is *skinny* and that still doesn't mentally override the "oh no I've gained weight" thought.)

Fat as an insult is traded frequently around the playground, too. At this age it doesn't appear to be related to actual fatness, though I can't decide if that is better or worse.

[crossposted to g+]

Comments

[boonedog.livejournal.com]

Yikes!!!
Emma June is skinny too and very much aware of it and hoping to always be that way. Thankfully, she hasn't worried yet about getting fat enough to relate it to food consumption. And to my knowledge fat is not a current insult on the playground, but it bothers me that whether or not she's skinny is even on EJ's radar at 10 years old.

What is currently an insult happening at least in her class during recess is one of the boys putting down the girls for being girls. I know it's probably an age old problem but it REALLY bothers me. Thankfully some of the other boys have expressed their opinion that this boy's behavior is "stupid" which warms my heart. But I know the boy's parents well and I have never seen any kind of women-hating behavior from the mom or dad (the dad is actually quite nice, kind and respectful of everyone). So, it's disturbing to me where this "girls aren't as good as boys and don't deserve to play with us" and "girls don't deserve respect like boys do" stuff is coming from.

[garpu.livejournal.com]

God, and kids that age can be unspeakably cruel, too. That's about when the bullying got out of control for me. :(

[indigodove.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that is one of the worst parts of school and/or growing up. It bugs me that it hasn't changed. I tried to change that in my own classroom.

O is beautiful. If there's a way I can help from far away, I'd love to.