The Body Image of a 6 Year Old
The other day while we were getting ready to go out, my 6 year old (Trailer Boy) was putting on a fuss about having to bring a rain jacket.
Apparently it makes him look “fat”.
After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I began to think back to similar experiences with my older 2.
Interestingly enough, when they were 6 also.
Princess Singstar had this knitted jumper that I LOVED and she refused to wear because she “looked fat in it”.
I was freaking out just a tad at the time that I was going to have an anorexic 6 year old on my hands.
It didn’t occur to me then (in the state of mind I was in which wasn’t a real clear one), that we’d come across this issue before.
When Lleyton (our eldest who is now 12) was in year 1 (so also 6), he came to me one day with a stick and said “I wish I was as skinny as this stick”.
My first thought at the time was “you’d be dead if you were skinny as that stick” followed by “you are almost as skinny as that stick” and then “why on earth would a child who is all skin and bone even be THINKING about getting any thinner?????”
So now that I’ve had 3 children go through the same thing at the same age (and we all know that a sample size of 3 makes me a complete expert, right?), I’m starting to wonder if this is some kind of “stage” that kids go through.
Is there some kind of body awareness stage that they go through around this age?
Something akin to 2 year old boys all liking pink (and my sample size for that one is bigger than 3 - I worked in a couple of different child care centres, my kids all went through it and now my nephew is also going through it). I think girls do too but you don’t notice it the same because they’re “supposed” to like pink.
Anyone else notice this stage of “fat-phobia” in their kids around the age of 6?
How would you deal with it? (and let me point out that laughing at them and telling them it’s ridiculous will NOT win you mother of the year 
).
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I knew a six year old a long time ago, who wanted to be as skinny as a piece of paper. Her mum discussed this with her, eventually discovering the class was reading Flat Stanley and the girl thought it would be great fun getting posted all over the world. Big sighs of relief there.
Yep, both my boys refused to wear clothes at that age that made them look fat, and they still won’t wear clothes like that - mainly parkas. But they will also only wear skinny jeans, because they look fat in the others. I have been talking to them about being healthy, and eating properly and the importance of exercise. We also talk about how they are both thin, and do not need to worry about being fat.
Actually N has been very very fussy about clothes since he was 3!
We haven’t gone through that stage with H (who is 7 1/2) however, he was completely awful the year he was six! We’re setting him up for a whole ‘nother set of eating issues…
He wants out of his booster seat.
He weighs 23kg
Despite being about 145cm tall
He needs to be 25kg tall, therefore he’s obsessing about eating MORE food! I have also warned him that if he drops below 25kg, he’ll be back in his booster!
H wears skinny jeans because they look like NORMAL jeans on him!
(H2 loved pink until fairly recently - he’s 4 1/2. His Bubba is pink, and he loves his Bubba!)
My 6 year old daughter has refused to wear her parka all winter because it made her look ‘fat’. I have found it quite distressing but tried not to make a big deal out of it, just emphasised that she is perfectly normal and not at all fat. It’s kind of nice to know that it’s a common problem. One I will be keeping a VERY close eye on…