It’s the word no one likes to use. Except for my 3 year old daughter.

At a family gathering, she walked up to my mother in law with a few simple words.

“Grandma, you’re fat.” She responded quickly. “Yes, and you’re skinny.”

End of discussion.

No judgment. No euphemisms. No excuses.

There might have been 20 adults that were present for that interchange. I sat mortified in the corner, wondering about the right time to have sensitivity training for a toddler.

She was right, of course. No one in the room had much to say. I took my MIL aside and apologized. She smiled nervously and changed the subject.

My own mother was fat. She died years before my children arrived. I wonder what her reaction would have been to the same candor ?

We watched her lifelong struggle with weight. She married “Jack Sprat”, gave birth to 6 thin…