This is a tough story to tell because it involves my ten year old daughter, and it's sad to me that it took what happened to open up my eyes. It's been over a month now, but it still brings tears to my eyes when I think about it. Anyway, my daughter stepped on the scale and became hysterical because she did not like the number staring back at her. I was shocked that she was so upset because she had never seemed concerned about her weight before - even though she is going through puberty, and had gained weight in the last year or so. I tried to calm her down by telling that she didn't need to worry about her weight at such a young age, but this upset her more. She was angry that I wouldn't admit the number was too high for her age and height. My heart was breaking for her, and I felt so much guilt because I knew that the we ate and snacked wasn't healthy for her, or the rest of our family......but I allowed it anyway.
After calming her down, I asked her to tell me more about why she was so upset, and she shared with me that she felt it was very unhealthy for her to be overweight. I was relieved that she was worried about her health, and not worried about her appearance - I didn't want it to be just a vanity thing. We agreed, as a family, we would start eating better, and exercising in order to get our bodies to a healthy weight - and we've been doing that ever since. My daughter feels great about it, and so do I!
I don't ever want my daughters to have to worry about having poor health because of a weight problem, so by making changes now I am hoping they will have the knowledge they need to make healthy choices for a lifetime.
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