Growing Up Skinny Isn’t Sunshine And Roses As Many Assume

Most people think of country folks eating lots of meat and potatoes for most meals.  That is true to a degree.  My family served bacon, eggs, gravy, and biscuits for breakfast.  I had regular lunches as a child.  You know the norm…peanut butter and jelly, ham sandwiches, the occasional fast food joint.  Dinner we had tacos, steak, etc. Pinto beans, cornbread, and salmon patties were every Wednesday at my granny’s.  Sundays we had the full spread of chicken, ham, greens, potatoes, etc.   No matter what I ate or didn’t eat, I was a skinny kid.  Growing up skinny wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns.  It most certainly didn’t come without hurt feelings and wondering what was wrong with me and why so many made fun of my size.  

Growing Up Skinny And Dealing With Backhanded Comments

Kids were cruel.  They called me names such as chicken legs, Olive Oyl, and so many other rude things.  It was a daily chore ignoring all the little snide remarks made toward me.  Yes, many days I cried and wondered why these kids who called themselves my friends were so mean.

Luckily for me, I didn’t consider them as my friends. Yep, just tolerated them. Yeah, I didn’t like them too much.  They would say these things to me and then try to laugh it off by saying things like, “oh we’re just joking with you.  You’re pretty, but you are skinny, the wind will blow you away.”  That was a bit backhanded if you ask me.

During my youth, I wanted to gain weight.  I wanted to know why I had to be the skinny kid.  It just wasn’t cool.  My mom would tell me to be proud of my body.  My doctor always gave me a good bill of health, but I wasn’t happy with my body.  And no, it didn’t get better as I became a teen.  Oh, or did you think these were comments made during teen years?  Oh, honey, please, it got worse.  Heck, even as an adult I encounter some unpleasant remarks.

What I didn’t realize as a kid was that my skinniness wasn’t my problem, but it was their problem.  That tidbit of information didn’t sink in for many years to come.

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What A Child Growing Up Skinny Wants

A child growing up skinny just wants to play on the swings, play tag, laugh, climb trees, play dolls and have friends just like everyone else.  You see, the way others treat and comment makes it seem like skinny kids have some disease.  Nope, being the skinny kid is no different than being the “average” size child or the “fat” child.  And no folks, growing up skinny doesn’t make life easy.

Just as it’s considered rude to point out that someone is fat, it’s equally as offensive to comment on someone being skinny.  Trust me; most skinny folks don’t need the daily reminder.

Why did I share this brief story about growing up skinny?

• My children are encountering these exact comments, and it hurts.
• To bring awareness that all skinny remarks aren’t received as compliments, and maybe someone reading this will take a moment to stop and think.
• You ensure your children aren’t making skinny jokes or not dealing with these snide remarks alone.

Words are words, and we must all learn to deal with them, but until we hear stories and understand how things may impact others, we will continue to brush it off.  So, do know….ALL SKINNY COMMENTS AREN’T welcome.

Body Shaming is real for all body types.  Be PROUD of YOUR BODY no matter the size.

Some of you know I had a separate site talking about body shaming from the skinny prospective.  As I worked on SFF and MACS, it was becoming difficult to manage both.  So, I’m taking the leap of bringing SFF to this platform.  Skinny is part of my life, part of sharing my story to help other women and youth.  Hope you enjoy this part of my story and I hope it helps someone.