A woman I know (I hesitate to call her a friend) has two daughters, aged 7 and 9. The 9yo is naturally very skinny. The 7yo is a bit chunkier, but not at all unhealthy. They both do loads of sport and eat properly.
The problem is their mother is completely neurotic about food and weight. She's a former model, trophy wife, obviously worried her rich husband will leave her for a younger woman if she loses her looks. She constantly comments on other people's size and always talks about how she's trying to lose weight (even though she's a size 10 if not smaller). She'll say things like, "Oh God, yesterday I had an ice-cream!" as if she's confessing to taking cocaine.
I'm really worried for her kids, especially the younger one. The mum has told me many times that she wants the 7yo to lose weight although there is no medical reason for this. I've heard her tell them things like, "Today Mummy isn't going to eat anything because she's on a diet." Once, when I was staying with them, she was getting her 7yo dressed for ballet and grabbed the girl's bum/thighs and said to me, "Look, she has all this..." She didn't say the word "fat" but she obviously meant that she thinks her pre-pubescent child is unattractively chubby. The other day she told me that she's started giving the 7yo goat's milk instead of normal milk because it's less fattening.
I'm so worried for these kids, I can't stop thinking about them. They are young enough at the moment that I think it goes over their heads, but in a few years' time I'm sure it will really affect them. How can this woman be so stupid and shallow?
I suppose my question is: should I say anything to the mother? I know her fairly well, but we're not close friends or anything. Would I be overstepping the mark? Or is it only fair to intervene on the part of the children?