Growing up, I was always told I didn’t eat enough and was too skinny. When I hit puberty, I was then eating too much and was too fat. There was never a happy medium with my family. I was either too skinny or too fat – nothing in between. Needless to say, I have been self conscious about my weight forever!

My daughter is now 6. My son, has always been taller, but he’s got muscle and is still pretty “skinny”. My daughter on the other hand has always been bigger for her age. She’s one of the tallest kids in her kindergarten class and while I wouldn’t say she is fat, she has meat on her bones. She’s a solid girl. (Hubby and I are by no means “little”.)

I have pretty good portion control (it would be much better if I stuck with my “eat half of what you would normally eat” but that got old). One serving of food is enough for me. Hubby on the other hand has major portion control issues. His idea of “one serving” is loading the plate as full as he can so he’s only going for “one serving”. For example, the other night we had country fried steak and mashed potatoes. I had one steak and a scoop of mashed potatoes. His plate? Two steaks and two servings of mashed potatoes. But because it was on one plate in one trip, it was one serving in his rational.

This behavior is now rubbing off on my daughter. This girl can eat more than me! No joke! We are talking 2 country fried steaks with 2 servings of mashed potatoes. Tonight for dinner, we made breakfast burritos (consisting of a flour tortilla, sausage, eggs, cheese). She ate two and then wanted a bowl of cereal! Are you kidding me!?

I am finding it really difficult to try and convey to her that she cannot eat as much as she wants, but she questions why daddy can and she can’t. I try to leave weight out of the conversation and only tackle the healthy issues such as it’s not healthy to eat two steaks and two servings of mashed potatoes (at the age of 6!?). I try to give healthy options, but it’s hard when daddy is eating what she wants.

I’m just really struggling with the issue and trying not to tell her “do you want to be fat like mommy?” (because that is totally not okay to say in my house!). We really try not to talk about people’s weight, but talk about healthy decisions. Hubby is zero help and doesn’t think it’s a big deal, but I don’t want my kids to be fat and be made fun of. (Even though she isn’t really fat. That picture is from Easter and she has actually grown taller so she is “thinned” out some since this picture, but she’s still a solid girl. That’s how she was made.) But how do I convey to my 6 year old that it is not healthy to eat so much food even if she is still hungry when daddy is shoving his face full right in front of her!?

Please tell me I am not the only mother that has this problem!?