Do girls as young as 6 really hate their bodies?

[nharvey]

Having recently read the article in femail about the six year olds who hate their bodies I was shocked- is this an isolated incident or do many parents face this now?

Has anyone read any of the 'Raising Girls' type of books? Am interested if any to be recommended.

Even has the effect of reconciling one to those personal blackspots - I adore dd's great long colty feet (& was a bit surprised to realise that actually they're an all-out benefit in ballet - nice & stable, & give such a lovely extension) - so have decided after all to like the ones she inherited them from

Orm thank you, I'd reached my full adult height by 12/13 (only 5'6") so stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb.

Also, probably due to my size (trigger weight being 6 stone) I started my periods and grew breasts younger than most of my class mates - can still remeber one classmate talking about how I had breasts because I was fat 25 years on. So I think I live in fear for her due to my experiences.

It doesn't help as the majority of her class seem to be more delicate than is average, in ballet she looks about 2 years older than everyone else.

Bink, I wasn't suggesting that you were complacent. You were the last poster when I started that and then the doorbell rang. When I eventually posted there were quite a few between you and I!

Must be partly to do with the kids around you, too. My dd (11) is very lucky in that her best friends have very strong other interests (wanting to be an author, zoology etc), so they probably don't spend their time together comparing their body shapes. Also, I know the parents and I can't imagine agonising about your body shape would be considered an interesting topic of conversation in any of their households.

But it must be very hard for a child to cling to your values if you are surrounded by other girls who make fun of your body. Come to think of it, I remember it- and it was. I was not happy with my body when I was 9. What got me through, I think, was remembering that these ideas about body shape being all-important were not shared by the people whose judgment I really trusted, i.e. my family. That's the best we can do for our kids.

The situation round here is complicated by the fact that an alarmingly large proportion of the adult population are seriously overweight. And when you look at the bigger children in the playground and then see their parents - it's not hard to see why they are as they are. So worrying about being 'fat' isn't just an image thing - it is to a certain extent a genuine problem. But how to address it without making it all about looks rather than health.

PW My DS is underweight too, it is so difficult to explain why he has to have cream and cheese in his mash when we have it, but none of the rest of us should.

My DH was also a really skinny child, he weighed less at 11 yrs than my DD did at 6. I think, for us, Genetics have played their part.

Cory you are right, I hope as a loving family we will have more influence over her (self)belief than some very shallow peers.

Last year My DD (7 at the time) who is very slim and has perfect posture, was talking about about being fat and having fat bits, she was worried that she wobbled. . She does a dance and gymnastics.

We had lots of positive discussions about bodies, I joked about not being able to find an ounce of fat on her, that that the parts of her that did move (wobbled) were her muscles and skin and how there was a thin layer of fat under her skin to keep her warm and stop her bones poking out. I made sure I didn't discuss diets or MIL's weightwatchers in front of her and explained my concerns to MIL so she understood. We talk about healthy balanced diets and not about forbidden food.

The discussions at the time seemd to make sense to her and reasure her a bit. Being careful about how we all talk about food seems to have kept her thinking positively. Long may it last {fingers crossed}

Media board (+ fee) please Naomi.

And please pay attention to my posts saying I do NOT see this as a trend.

My 4 year old dd came home from school last week and said 'My legs are fatter than my friends - she has thinner legs than me'. And also 'I must only eat 1 thing and then nothing more, I have to learn to eat less'.

In context, she was stating that her legs were fatter than her friends as a purely factual thing - she wasn't happy or sad about it, it was like saying she had longer hair than someone. And the eating thing is because we often have to say no, because otherwise she would literally eat all day - very healthily, she eats fruit constantly - but if it's just before tea for example I will say no as I don't think it's good to have a snack immediately before a meal.

I am very careful with her, as she is the sort who could have problems I think - she is well built, slim, but solid iysim, and also a complete perfectionist, and I do think the 'healthy eating' message at school goes a bit far tbh. And I have a skinny ds1, so I'm always trying to get him to eat a little more which is hard!

If you are researching for a documentary your original post should not have been

"Having recently read the article in femail"

this should be in media requests .

Lets hope she has an editor for all those typos.

Worse than trolls imho.

Go and do some proper research. .

My dd (5) has started saying she is fat (she's not - she has a different body shape to her brother but she's NOT fat) She doesn't like wearing leggings because of her "fat" legs. She asks if certain foods will make her fat - but so far she has not stopped eating any of them! I think she does have low self esteem though - and I find that worrying at 5.

i have found my d discarding food in the toliet this weekend. she has been treated at the doctors before for eating disorders. after fasting un til she past out in the street.

her disorder is moving on to other stages how, she is hiding food and discarding it when no one is around.

she is only 9 she has had food issues for a few years it started with disliking food which i thought was a fad.

any others out there that are dealing with the same thing would be good to speak with you. please don't advice me to seek med help already getting that.