Living a body-positive lifestyle can be hard work, especially for women. All too often, we're bombarded with messages that we should look a certain way, follow a certain diet, or weigh a certain number of pounds.
But as hard as it is for an adult woman to love her own body in its particular shape and size, it's that much harder to raise a daughter in this kind of atmosphere.
Body-positivity activist and mom of two Allison Kimmey has dedicated herself to spreading the message that we should all love our bodies, regardless of whether society has something negative to say about them. She is a self-described "self-love author and speaker."
Allison has also dedicated herself to raising body-positive children. That's why she was so stricken when her 5-year-old daughter came home and told her that another little girl had called her fat.
As it turns out, the young mom's life lessons had an incredible impact on her daughter, who shared the powerful response she gave the other child.
Scroll through to see what Allison's daughter had to say!
Thumbnail Photo: Instagram / Allison Kimmey
In a now-viral Instagram post, Allison wrote:
My daughter told me that someone called her fat today.
Cambelle: "Mama I need to tell you something"
Me: "Okay baby, what's up?"
C: "Yesterday at practice my shirt came up a little bit and my tummy was showing. The girl next to me looked at me and said that my tummy was fat."
Insert immediate mama bear reaction in my head’s internal dialogue “Oh no, here we go” I thought to myself, but I said: “Oh really? And what did you say to her?”
C: "I told her that I'm not fat, I HAVE fat. And that everybody has fat. And I told her it's okay to have fat."
Insert happy dance parenting win: “Wow Cambelle! I am SO proud of you for the way you handled that situation. Fat is not a bad word, I don’t think she was trying to hurt your feelings. It was so brave of you to help her understand that all people have fat, but that no one IS fat. And that it doesn’t make you a bad person if you have more or less of it. Did she have anything to say?”
C: “She just said ‘oh, okay'”
I couldn't believe that my 5 year old daughter had been able to handle a situation with more grace than most 30 year olds.
C: “Remember that time I told you that you were fat?”
Me: "Yes baby, I do."
C: "I'm sorry I did that"
Me: "It's okay baby, the most important thing is that you learned and now you can teach others and help change the world"
After recounting what Cambelle had told her, Allison shared the important lesson she wanted everyone to take away from this story:
Children aren’t born with hate inside them. They learn words from their environments and the things they see/hear, and they try them on for size.
I can't prepare my daughter for all of life's situations, but I can help her to be a voice of compassion, humility and love.
And to anyone that will undoubtedly say that this is “promoting obesity,” please understand that preventing childhood bullying before it can even start is not a matter of weight, but of character.
Just do you babes.
If you love what Allison (and Cambelle!) had to say about loving your body, don't forget to SHARE this story on Facebook!
