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Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Raising healthy kids in a fat world

As I put my daughter in her new yellow polka dot bikini yesterday I wondered how I'm going to raise her to have healthy eating habits and a healthy mind set about her body in a world where wears surrounded by a twisted view of beautiful. 

Growing up my mom always had something to say about weight. If it wasn't about mine it was about my dads - who by the way wears a size 32 waist band and is by no means overweight. I think this is one reason why I'm so self conscious, but also because every person in my family is of "normal" size. 

Once I had my daughter I immediately  started worrying. I don't want her to struggle with her weight like I do. I don't want her to ever feel less than beautiful. I don't want her to go through the pain of feeling less than adequate. My husband and I decided immediately that she wouldn't be given sugar or processed foods. We wanted to raise her to make healthy choices in hopes that that would help with the whole weight thing. I struggle everyday with food and I don't want her to do that. 

So how do I, who have such horrible self esteem, raise a child to have great self esteem? How do you explain to your child why they aren't getting ice cream when everyone else is? How do you all deal with this? 

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