Sweet Spot
BN Living Sweet Spot: See what this 5-Year-Old said when she was called Fat
Allison Kimmey, a body-positivity activist and a mother shared a story on her Instagram of her daughter’s reaction after she was called fat.
According to Insider, Kimmey had back in June shared a post of her reaction after her daughter called her fat.
Instead of anger, she had told her daughter: “The truth is, I am not fat. But I do HAVE fat. We ALL have fat. Some people have a lot, and others don’t have very much. But that doesn’t mean that one person is better than the other.”
The 5-year-old girl had apparently kept the lesson at heart.
A girl next to her in school had seen her tummy and said her tummy was fat.
Asked what she told the girl, she said: “I told her that I’m not fat, I HAVE fat. And that everybody has fat. And I told her it’s okay to have fat.”
The mother was so proud of her daughter, and told her fat is not a bad word.
She shared the entire dialogue on Instagram, along with a lesson. She wrote:
•My daughter told me that someone called her fat today.•
____________________
Cambelle: “Mama I need to tell you something”
Me: “Okay baby, what’s up?””
C: “Yesterday at practice my shirt came up a little bit and my tummy was showing. The girl next to me looked at me and said that my tummy was fat.”
>>Insert immediate mama bear reaction in my head’s internal dialogue “Oh no, here we go” I thought to myself<<, but I said: “Oh really? And what did you say to her?”
C: “I told her that I’m not fat, I HAVE fat. And that everybody has fat. And I told her it’s okay to have fat.”
>>Insert happy dance parenting win<<: “Wow Cambelle! I am SO proud of you for the way you handled that situation. Fat is not a bad word, I don’t think she was trying to hurt your feelings. It was so brave of you to help her understand that all people have fat, but that no one IS fat. And that it doesn’t make you a bad person if you have more or less of it. Did she have anything to say?”
C: “She just said ‘oh, okay'”
>>I couldn’t believe that my 5 year old daughter had been able to handle a situation with more grace than most 30 year olds.<<
C: “Remember that time I told you that you were fat?”
Me: “Yes baby, I do.”
C: “I’m sorry I did that”
Me: “Its’ okay baby, the most important thing is that you learned and now you can teach others and help change the world”
________________Children aren’t born with hate inside them. They learn words from their environments and the things they see/hear, and they try them on for size. I can’t prepare my daughter for all of life’s situations, but I can help her to be a voice of compassion, humility and love. •And to anyone that will undoubtedly say that this is “promoting obesity,” please understand that preventing childhood bullying before it can even start is not a matter of weight, but of character.• Just do you babes
Xoxo
Allie & Cambelle
See the post below:
Photo Credit: Instagram – allisonkimmey
