Judgy Reddit Mom Thinks Fat Is Contagious

There are times as parents where we need to explain to our kids that life is different for every family. I am dealing with this a lot right now considering my kids are school aged and exposed to classmates with values different from ours.There are a million instances where you will be out with your kids and they will see behavior of other kids that you do not allow. To me, this is an opportunity to explain why you feel the way you do and why things go differently in your house. The idea that you could prevent your child from ever witnessing a different parenting style or rules that are not like yours is ludicrous. However, that is not stopping this Reddit mom who seems to think that her child spending time with an overweight child could cause her child to magically start binge-eating.

Here is her question:

First of all, I do think its beat that the other mother allows her son to take all of this kid’s food without stopping him. Obese or not, that is terrible behavior and needs to be addressed. Aside from that, the fact that this woman seems to think that her child witnessing another child binge eating could cause him to do the same is utterly ridiculous. She must realize that she will not be able to hover over him and edit everything he sees once he goes to school, correct? He is going to see bad behavior and ill manners from his peers for the rest of his childhood. The best course of action is to explain your values and rules to your child so they understand the reasoning behind it. For example- my daughter has asked me for an iPhone several times in the last few months because she knows a girl her age at school that has one. Without demeaning her parents, I simply explain that in our house, second graders do not have their own phones. There is truly nothing I can do to stop her from knowing that other kids might have things she does not but I can explain to her why I feel the way I do.

I think this Reddit mom is correct in not wanting her child to pick up on this type of behavior but cutting off this friendship is not the way to go. If nothing else, it is an excellent opportunity to kindly illustrate the importance of eating healthy foods in reasonable portions and also, that everyone is different and that is perfectly ok. She does not need to insult the other child and his mother but could point out that healthy foods will make his body healthy and leave it at that. If she thinks she can stop her son from ever seeing behavior she does not agree with then she better plan on homeschooling him and never letting him go out in public. The world is full of different kinds of families and the sooner he learns that, the better.

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