My 4 yr old grandaughter told me she is fat and she is upset because she loves junk food and can't stop eating

Question

She is not obese but she is chubby. She just turned 4 in June and she weighs 50 lbs. but she is tall for her age wearing a pant size 6x in length. She grabbed her calf and told me "just look at that fat - I am so fat & I don't know what to do because I try and try to stop eating and I can't stop, I love food so much".

What should I do? She was sad and sounded like a teenager with an eating disorder already. I told her she was not fat and she just needed to eat more fruits and vegetables and excersize and not to worry about it. She said I want to stop eating yummy foods sooooo bad .............but I eat them anyways !!! She was upset when she told me this - spouting it out of the blue. Does she sound way too young to be thinking like this already? Is there something I should be telling her other than what I did? Should I be concerned?

PS - She is my Grand daughter that I have 3 - 4 consecutive days a week, so I don't have total control over what she is exposed

Answer 1

I don't know...

Answer 2

She's 4 and concerned about being 'fat'? Someone obviously is calling her fat (and probably worse) if she has such low self-esteem at this age. At 4, most kids don't even pay much attention to their looks! (Ever see how many kids run around with cookie crumbs on their mouths after lunch at school? They don't care!)

My main concern would be finding out WHY she thinks this and where she got it from (i.e. if someone called her this or not). Get to the bottom of this and you'll be fine.. kids this age usually only say what they have heard other say to them. They are like little mirrors, sometimes good sometimes bad, but these little mirrors don't lie.

Find out where she got it from.. besides, ALL KIDS love sweet yummy food. She isn't the only one!

Good luck with your LO <333

Answer 3

Wow.  She is 4 and saying all of this???  How sad.  Stand her in front of a mirror, tell her how beautiful she it and yell at the person who it teaching her this garbage!

Answer 4

well talk this over with your son or daughter and explain that your concerned. It is not normal that a 4 year old would have this much concern about there looks. Maybe someone is telling her she is fat and put it in her head. Im going through this with my 5 year old she is already in a size 8 in girls and she also is tall for her age (she looks more like she is 7) but her overeating is due to stress. I got her involved with therapy (me and her dad are not together myself and him have moved on and both married and have other children) sooo she is feeling left out or torn between. Maybe you just need to re enforce good eating habits and stick to it 3 to 4 days a week is helpful to get her on a healthy routine!

good luck this is very sad! and it hits close to home!

Answer 5

I would talk to whom ever she stays with the rest of the week so both household can be consistant with what she's eating. She can't eat what's not at the home. Meaning it's the adults that are buying the junk food that she's addicted to.

Answer 6

yes you should be concerned!! where is she hearing this sort of thing? or worse yet, who is telling her? you need to this a bout this. what area her parents like? or does she have older sisters?

if she likes yummy food then make them with her but a healthier version, wholewheat flour cakes... pizza... choc cruchies (mix crackers with low fat chocolate spread).

what you could do is talk about what you love about each other (hair, cooking, clothes, funny, smiles etc),

and its probably a good idea to find out where she got all this from, open with "why do you think your fat?"   good luck x

Answer 7

That's really upsetting, isn't it? She must be getting the idea from TV or something. My son is 4 since Feb, and he won't eat too much either, in case he gets fat. Now, I am a stay at home mom, and I know for a fact that he does not hear this sort of talking from me. (Although I could certainly stand to lose about 30 lbs) He is holding steady at 40 lbs, and skinny as can be. Might be time to turn off the TV