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904338 tn?1242262496

My 6 year old claiming she is fat and ugly!!

Hi, my daughter is 6 years old she is 4 ft 5 inches and weights 83 lbs.  She is beautiful and loving but I have a huge concern and do not know what to do... She tells me that she is fat, that she looks at herself in the mirror and that she is ugly, she ALWAYS puts herself down.  She always says that she does things wrong, that she had a bad day.. my question is should I be concern and take her to a psychologist I AM DESPERATE!!!!

Thank you
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Avatar universal
Hi Evita 13,

I have a 7 year old daughter myself and I would sometimes hear her complain about how she looks. she's 67lbs she is also 4'5".. I always make sure that my daughter is very vocal about the things that's going on with her whenever she's not with me (and her dad).. My husband and I always made sure that we ask her about school.. kids this age are so conscious about how they look.. it's shocking! My daughter would sometimes tell me that one of her classmates was teasing her about her tummy.. her body is ok but her main problem is her tummy.. I'm not sure if it's right but when my daughter tells me that somebody told her she's fat I would ask her was the child who called you fat skinny?... then I would just tell her to tell that kid, "why are u so skinny?" so far her frustrations go away when I do that.. my daughter has been an Honor and straight A student so I always remind her of her strengths (which is her academic skills) and tell her it doesn't matter what other people think about her body as long as she makes sure that she's putting an effort to eat properly.. she's been very good in doing that.. I serve her salad and I put minimal dressing on it and some pears or grapes (cut in half).. Kids usually like that.. Whenever she would want to have sweets we got her some sugar free bite size chocolates so I'm not actually depriving her.. I make sure I watch what she eats and buy snacks that are healthy so when she opens the pantry those would be her choices.. Hope this helps.. Please keep posting.. I'm sure we can learn a lot from each other to help our children..
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904338 tn?1242262496
Thank you aswell for your feedback!
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904338 tn?1242262496
Thank you so much for your help.  I appreciate you taking the time to send me some feedback.  I will take each of your comments into consideration.

Again, thank you!
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Avatar universal
Just to be aware - I might suggest you google the phrase "anorexia nervosa" or "symptoms of anorexia" or similar words/phrases to find information about this disorder.  No, I do not think your child suffers from this issue; however, her words and behaviour are a huge red flag.  Perhaps education on this issue might give you the necessary information to "prevent" this disorder in the future.  It never hurts to be forearmed.  I wish you the best ...
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535822 tn?1443976780
Could she have overheard something that makes her feel this way other children can be unkind sometimes, check out where she may have heard this,school or other family has she an older sibling. Is she overwieght at all as you could both address that and get her doing more exercise ,outside games , get lots of healthy food in the house. I feel something is triggering the thought she is having, Good Luck
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Avatar universal
Children are worrying about self esteem and body image at a younger age these days, i think you should be very concerned. The fact that she is telling you she think she's ugly and fat are definitely signs she has low self esteem. I feel it'd be better to get it seen to now before her teenage years, where the most anxiety can usually be held. until then, continue to do all the things a mum does and keep reinforcing how beautiful she is and that everything isn't based on looks aswell as reinforcing the things she's good at (it might also be useful to pick out some examples of your own about the things your not too good at, just to show that people have weaknesses and aren't good at everything). All the best!
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