My mother is a great woman who I have a good relationship with, but her comments about my body have always been so detrimental to my self image .

I’ll specify ( though it shouldn’t matter) I have never been overweight in my life , I’ve never been (or felt) like the thinnest person, but even at my ‘heaviest ‘ as an adult I was a size 6.

Starting around puberty I regularly heard comments like “do you really want to eat THAT?”; “are you on your period? You look really bloated today”;etc. Fast forward to college... talking to my mom on the phone “by the way I sent you a book I thought you’d enjoy reading”, I get the book, it’s a diet book 🤦🏻‍♀️. Thanks mom 🙄. Then pregnancy came and so did a new slew of comments... at 10wks when I shared our news, we were talking about when I might start showing, my mother says she started showing early since she was so thin, but “since I carry all that extra weight in my stomach” I probably won’t show for awhile 😥 thanks mom. 16 wks pregnant talking to someone else about the 4 lbs I’d gained so far, my mother chimes in “just remember everything you gain, you have to loose “, 1st I said 4lbs not 15, 2nd no I don’t, all I ‘have’ to do is try my best to have a happy, healthy baby & to love him. Now postpartum ( very proud of myself I was back to prepregnancy weight by my 6wk appointment) my parents were visiting this weekend and a few times when my little man (10wks) didn’t want to fall to sleep I walked him in the stroller & he fell out fast. So, my mother comments I’ll want to walk him a lot this summer and “might ended up getting skinny” ... the hero of this story & the reason I have been able to overcome a lot of my body image issues, is my husband who immediately piped up and said “She already is!”

I say all of this to remind myself and hopefully those who read this to be body positive with this next generation. If you want your children to be healthy, cook them healthy meals. If you want your children to be active, enjoy fun active things as a family. Ours sons & daughters don’t need us to comment (negatively or positively ) on their bodies. Tell them they are a good friend or a hard worker not that they are ‘skinny’ or ‘fat’.