The way we talk about weight, body types, diet and nutrition, and health in general can have a huge impact on how our kids see themselves and, in turn, on how they live their lives into adulthood. Now one mom is going viral for sharing how her husband communicated this to a young daughter.
This kid is a toddler, so her dad has about another decade to instill healthy values around weight and eating before she hits her teen years, which are a battleground for mental health and body image. Right now, though, he’s providing her first-ever understanding of a scale, and he took care to do so in a way that wouldn’t justify using body mass as a measure of a person’s worth.
Viral TikTok Addresses Weight Issues
This mom, who goes by the handle @unsolicitedsarcasm, was catching a sweet moment between her husband and daughter when the tone changed. Apparently, while hanging out with his toddler, this dad stepped on the home scale, and the baby immediately wanted to know if she could try it too and what the device was for.
In the video, we hear dad take a moment to think about how he wants to respond to this, and then explain to his daughter that the scale will tell how much someone weighs, but doesn’t tell us anything else about them. He says:
“It has no reflection on anything else about what’s going on…if you’re happy and you’re healthy and you’re energized.”
Weight & Unhealthy Obsession
Of course, at least in our conscious minds, we all know that health isn’t defined by a scale. We know that some weight is muscle and that adding muscle mass can mean weight gain.
We know that fat is stored energy. We know that different lifestyles can necessitate different nutritional needs. We know that if we want a real measure of health, we should discuss with a doctor not only our weight but also our diet, nutrition, and lifestyle, among other things.
Still, it’s effortless to get caught up in a number — especially one that’s available right there in your own bathroom every single morning of your life.
So Dad made sure his daughter heard it clear and early: weight is just a number, and it never defines one’s value as a person.
Toddler Talk
Watching the video, it may seem that the little girl didn’t get the message. She’s not showing any signs of being super focused on it, and she interrupts to complain that the scale isn’t working when she steps on it.
One thing we know as parents, though, is that even when kids don’t seem to be listening, they’re absorbing those messages, and this brief talk is just one in what will surely be many as she grows.
Public Response
The comments make it clear that the audience appreciates the message. Some responders are taking notes and planning how they’ll have similar talks with their kids, and others are sharing their own personal traumas with body image and weight obsession.
Some specifically address breaking the generational cycle of negative self-image associated with weight, diet, and eating, such as one who shares that her dad called her “fat” her whole life and another who says that at age 45, they’ve never once heard this sentiment expressed — instead, they’ve spent their entire life being told that the scale does measure human worth.
The video is barely a minute long, and the conversation about the scale is only a few short sentences — but it’s a moment in that child’s life that could affect her self-esteem into adulthood, which is a beautiful thing.
