Father Is Furious After Finding out That His Wife Put Their 8-Year-Old Daughter on a Diet

A father has become irate after discovering that his 8-year-old daughter was secretly put on a diet by his wife. Discovering that his little girl was lecturing other children on the evils of eating cake and other out-of-character incidents, the man questioned his wife if she had noticed anything different only to be told that she had informed their daughter that she was “fat”.

In what can only be described as cruel, the mother admitted to telling her own child that she was fat so she wouldn’t hear the news first from other children.

Taking to Reddit to ask if he was in the wrong for being angry with his wife, the man explained the situation in full.

My wife and I have an 8-year-old daughter. I’ll preface this by saying she is slightly chubby, however, I feel as though this is par for the course for her age.

For the past few months, there have been several events that struck me as odd. What stuck out most to me was when a parent told me that she had “ruined” her friend’s birthday party by lecturing the other kids on the dangers of eating cake, and overall how squirrelly she gets when I offer her a bite of a snack or ask if she wants seconds.

Recently, as I’ve been around her more, I’ve noticed her mannerisms. She always pulls at her shirt, hunched over, etc. So today, I asked her if anything was wrong, and she told me that she was fat. I asked her why she thought that, and she flat-out said: “Mummy told me”.

I was livid. I went straight to my wife and asked her if it was true. She said yes. I, calmly, asked her why she would say such a thing to an 8-year-old. She told me that she was fat as a child and her mother lied about it. She said her mother would scream and punish her if she so much as mentioned she wanted to lose weight, and how she had to find out from nasty comments by other kids at school that she was fat. She finished with “I’ll be damned if I ever let that happen to our daughter”

I said “Well, good job. You f*cked her up for the rest of her life. How dare you say that to your own daughter”. She said, “Oh trust me, it would’ve been worse if she had to find out from other kids”. We went on for a while. I realised that she truly believed she was justified, body shaming and putting an 8-year-old on a diet.

My wife has had many issues in the past. Her mother was definitely abusive, she was anorexic for almost 10 years, etc. So I feel like she should know way better than this.

I am still extremely mad about this. Am I in the wrong for being angry at my wife?

There are so many ways to amend a child’s diet while they are still young and are relying on you to provide all of their food and guidance on nutrition without making them feel ashamed of themselves.

Parents are still in charge of giving them all of their meals, snacks and drinks as well as organising healthy activities at this age. It becomes much harder as they get older, but at eight-years-old, a parent can easily serve healthier meals at appropriate portions and stock the pantry with healthier snack alternatives. They could also suggest keeping active by going on family walks or signing up for a sporty after school activity.

Shaming a child for their body size is never okay. And while this man has every right to be angry with his wife, now is his opportunity to take control of the situation and implement a healthier lifestyle for the entire family. And get his daughter into counselling to reverse the damage already done.

via Reddit *edited slightly for clarity*