I took DS (5,in year 1) swimming today. He missed last week due to chicken pox and was fine on the at in but as soon as we were waiting poolside he said he didn’t want to go in and flat out refused to even dip his toes in, crying and just starting to melt down. I tried for about half the lesson so 15 mins to get him in but took him out and got him dressed before a full melt down. He’s awaiting assessment for ASD so it’s not the first time he’s not joined in a class. In the car on the way home he asked for a top to wear swimming, I thought it was because he was cold. When he was calm and I asked him about it he wouldn’t tell me what was wrong, I didn’t press too much but after dinner he told me he thinks he’s fat.
DH and I are of average weight I think, DS has always been 99 percentile for height and 75th for weight so never been overweight. We don’t diet or calorie count, just eat relatively healthy. I don’t label food as ‘bad’ but he does know how sugar affects your teething and why we don’t eat too much sugary food. He says no one has said anything to him at school. I don’t know what to do, I mean he’s 5?!