A dad shared how he absolutely went after his mother-in-law after she made some totally messed-up comments to his young daughter about her body, and honestly, we need more of this from the men in our young girls’ lives, please!
“I went off on my mother-in-law for making comments about my daughter’s belly,” Jon said in a TikTok.
While the family was eating dinner, his daughter was eating some fried chicken that came with a side of pickles. Then, his mother-in-law (the girl’s grandma) made a comment about how the young girl should eat more pickles so that “she wouldn’t have such a pudgy belly.”
Now, this kind of remark would have sent me into such a rage that my house probably wouldn’t be standing. Jon basically felt the same but exuded way more composure than I could ever.
“Number one, that doesn’t make sense. Like calories in, calories out, like eating more pickles does not negate the calories that you’re consuming. So yes, that doesn’t make sense,” he prefaced before recalling that his wife did step in immediately and tell her mom not to say such disgusting things.
But then, Jon looked over at his 11-year-old daughter, who was making a face.
“And that set me off…” Jon recalled.
“I went off on my mother-in-law, and I told her that she can’t say sh*t like that in my house She could never say that. Anything like that again to my daughter and that it harms her self-image … She’s entering an age where body image is very sensitive.”
See, Jon knew that his daughters were already working through some body image issues. His oldest daughter had made some concerning comments to him about why she wanted to run track at school.
“Couple days ago, she was talking about how … she should join track because she didn’t want to look so fat compared to her classmates. Not because she enjoyed running. She doesn’t enjoy running at whatsoever, but she thought maybe the added physical activity would help her look more like her peers,” he said.
In typical mother-in-law fashion, she tried to downplay her “pudgy belly” comment and gaslit Jon into thinking that it was all no big deal.
“She’s saying, ‘Well, it’s a harmless comment, it doesn’t really mean anything.’ And I explained to her that, no, it’s not harmless whatsoever, it’s very harmful. Comments like these are how insecurity starts at a young age that turns into something much more harmful as she ages. Especially during an age where she’s starting to discover her body.”
After Jon’s post went viral, thousands of TikTok users commented on the post, thanking Jon for speaking up and recalling their own family members’ rude comments.
“11 is the exact age you should NEVRR say this :(,” one user wrote.
Another said, “I am a dietitian and I promise it is harmful. I meet with women of all ages and they ALL remember these comments, even as adults!”
“People start hating on little girls so early,” another noted.
“You also stood up for your wife. I’m sure she grew up hearing the same comments from her mom,” one user wrote.
Jon responded, “You’re not wrong.”
“As a daughter of Asian parents who dealt with this her entire life, thank you for standing up for your daughter 😭,” another said.
As a woman myself, and a former 11-year-old girl, these kinds of comments stay with you forever. And I really hope that her dad’s words also stick with her forever because a lot of girls, myself included, never had a male figure in their life who stood up to the bullies, even if they’re your own grandma.
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