"Fat"

The other night Lili and I were laying in bed watching a little TV before bedtime. I was flipping channels and happened to make a quick stop by TLC, to see what was on. Of course it happened to be a special on a woman who weighed over 700 lbs. I stopped for just a second on the station and Lili immediately asked, 'What happened to hers?' I realized at that moment that my child didn't know the word 'fat' because it's a term that I have avoided in this house.

Since the day I found out I was pregnant for the very first time I have worried about my weight issues and how those might affect my children. I don't want my kids to go through what I went through, but I also don't want them to be teased because of having a 'fat Mom'. More importantly, I want them to accept other people for being different and not to always jump to conclusions based on what they see. Having been overweight most of my life, I KNOW that obesity doesn't always equate to laziness. A lot of people can't see past that initial judgement though. That person is obese so they 'must' be lazy. I don't feel like a lazy person at all...but I'm still fat.

So at what point will my child know the word 'fat' and its meaning? I can't really say. I know she will pick it up at school someday...but I have no idea when. I could be proactive and explain this to her myself, but I also don't want to draw attention to it...as if it's something that needs to be showcased. She will encounter overweight people for the rest of her life and I want her to see them like she sees everyone else...people. I guess I'm just delaying the inevitable...but why can't I? Why...at 3 years old...does she need to learn about and start thinking about things like obesity...weight...eating too much...etc.? I can educate her about eating healthy foods, which I try to do as much as I can, but that's where I think it will end for now. She's already growing up way too fast and knows so much more than I ever anticipated at this age. I think it's fine to keep some things under wraps until it's necessary to talk about them. In the meantime, I am going to continue on my own quest to get healthy so that when it IS time to talk about these things with her (and with Will), I can set a good example for them.