Worst Things Parents Say to Overweight Girls

Quick! Clap your hand over your mouth before you utter one of these.

by Abby Ellin

by Abby Ellin

Most of us are guilty of having said at least one of these in a bad moment.  And a lot of it depends on the tone.  But if you hear yourself (or your own mother's voice) in this list, just remember, awareness is the first step.

1. "You would be so beautiful if you only lost weight!"

2. "Why are you eating that? You've already had enough!"

3. "Don't eat that in front of me--it kills me to see you ruining yourself like that."

4. "Of course you have a lot of girl friends--girls love it when there's a fatty around!"

5. "You can't do x (go out with your friends, go on vacation, play X-Box) until you lose weight."

6. "You embarrass me."

7. "Get off your fat rear end, put down the clicker and MOVE!"

8. "Aren't you worried about your health?"

9. 'If you keep eating like that you'll… [pick one] blow up like a balloon; get Type 2 diabetes; never get ahead in life!"

10. “Don't you want boys to like you?"

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Abby Ellin is the author of Teenage Waistland: A Former Fat Kid Weighs in On Living Large, Losing Weight and How Parents Can (and Can’t) Help, was published in 2005. Her column, “How to Raise a Millionaire,” runs on MSN.com. For five years, she wrote the "Preludes" column, about young people and money, in the Sunday Money and Business section of the New York Times. She also regularly writes the "Vows" column in the New York Times Sunday Styles section. Her work has appeared in a range of publications, including Time, the Village Voice, Marie Claire, More, Self, Glamour, the Boston Phoenix, and Spy (RIP). She's an editor-at-large for Gotham magazine and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College.  But her greatest claim to fame is naming “Karamel Sutra” ice cream for Ben and Jerry's.

  Published March 10, 2010