"Many people genuinely believe they are expressing care when they focus on a child's appearance. Weight is often treated as an easy, visible indicator of whether a child is healthy, thriving, or being cared for "properly." But bodies are far more complex than that."
"Babies naturally come in different sizes. Some are born larger, some smaller. Some toddlers are round and soft before stretching out later. Others are lean from the beginning. Growth patterns vary enormously depending on genetics, development, temperament, feeding patterns, activity level, medical factors, and pure biological diversity."
"Yet culturally, we tend to reduce health to body size. A chunky baby is often seen as healthy and well-loved, while a thinner child may spark concern-even when both are perfectly healthy. At the same time, some people become concerned about babies who are larger or "too chubby," treating infant weight as something that needs to be controlled early on."
"For something that is supposedly just about "health," there is a surprising amount of emotion, judgment, and social meaning attached to children's bodies. As children grow older, those comments often continue: "She's gotten so skinny," "He's a big boy," "Are they eating enough?""
People often ask about a child’s weight immediately after birth and continue making size-based comments as the child grows. Weight is treated as an easy, visible indicator of whether a child is healthy, thriving, and cared for properly. Cultural expectations reduce health to body size, even though babies vary widely in natural size due to genetics, development, temperament, feeding patterns, activity level, medical factors, and biological diversity. Some children are seen as healthy when they are larger, while thinner children may be treated as concerning despite being healthy. Others worry about babies who are “too chubby,” reflecting early attempts to control infant weight. Children’s bodies are frequently treated as public property through casual remarks.
Read at Psychology Today
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