01/03/2020
A beautiful post from our Hot Mama Health & Fitness - Sherwood Park/Edmonton East 🖤
Have an amazing Friday
Xoxo
I was unprepared to have this conversation with my daughter at such a young age- I knew it was coming (eventually) but at 5 years old, I was a little surprised.
We had just finished eating dinner when my oldest looked at her sister and said "mom look her belly is so full" I said "yeah, she ate a really good dinner didn't she?" Then she looked at me and asked "mom, when will my belly be like yours and not like mine?" I didn't want to jump to conclusions right off the hop so I questioned her and asked what she meant by that. She replied by standing up from her chair grabbing her shirt on either side of her body, pulling it tight and sucking in as much as she could and said "like this mom," like I said- I was not prepared for this conversation to happen at this time, I looked at my husband and gave him the wtf eyes and he just stared at me back not knowing what to say.
Now, we do not talk about body image in this way at our house- we talk about having strong, healthy bodies and how we achieve that (que the eat your vegetables, drink your water and play hard chat), and I am so lucky that my children get to be surrounded by amazing/ inspiring women on the daily- we talk about how everybody's bodies are different and that's what makes us all so special.
I didn't want to make this conversation any deeper than it had to be so all I told her was "you are giving your body exactly what it needs right now, you are eating lots, you are learning a lot and having fun, you are getting lots of sleep and your body is just perfect the way it is!" she was happy with that answer (thank goodness), BUT in the back of my mind I couldn't help but think where this would have come from. This is the way society has made us think- weight loss this and weight loss that is EVERYWHERE (commercials, children's movies, billboards, stories, school etc.) it saddens and terrifies me that this is what our children feel they need to worry about at such a young age.
My wish for 2020 and beyond is that all of these ridiculous fad diets are gone, that we can LEARN how to live a healthy lifestyle while still being able to enjoy ourselves, instill into our own and our littles heads that we are so much more than our body image and instead teach everyone not just our children (and I say teach because for some this is extremely hard) to say "I LOVE MY BODY!"