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Sunday, June 28, 2009

Conversation with a 3 year old

Marissa (3.5) has become increasingly observant about other people lately and isn't shy to speak her mind, as children rarely are. I have had to clarify for her recently that just because a woman has a plump belly, that doesn't mean she's pregnant. She should always ask mommy or daddy very quietly if she's wondering about that. And no, it isn't nice to say (out loud) that people are fat. Why? Well, because it hurts their feelings, similar to if you said they were ugly.

So the other day, just a couple of days after such a conversation, we had spent a little time around a lady who is, shall we say, a bit overweight.

In the car after we left (thank God), I heard Marissa piping up from the back of the van,

"Why is her bottom bigger?"

Shaking my head as if to remove cobwebs from my ears, I replied, "What did you say?"

She repeated louder. "Why is her bottom bigger?"

Oh my. "Bigger than what?" I asked, both anticipating and dreading the answer.

"Bigger than YOURS!" I heard back. Duh.

Oh my indeed. I stifled back a giggle and went into an explanation on how people are different, not everyone is the same size, some people have more weight on them than others, and we should never make comments about the size of someone's bottom, or anything else for that matter.

She exclaimed, "Well, I didn't say she was FAT!"

No, she didn't.

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