tl;dr: My sister is hard on her daughter's weight and goes about it the wrong way
My sister has been getting on my nerves with her comments about her daughter's weight. My niece, lets call her K, has always been on the chubby side, but in the past three or so years she has become very heavy. I know she is around 5'2" and according to her mother, over 220 pounds. My sister and I are both fit and jog frequently. My sister has always been hard on K's weight problem and pins the blame on her ex-husband, K's father who she says can't cook and buys K fast food. My sister cooks her healthy meals but keeps the pantry stocked with sodas and chips, and she encourages K to go back for seconds so they don't have left overs.
Recently, K's doctor told my sister K is obese and prediabetic, and my sister seems to be taking out her frustrations on K. She has been forcing K to join us for a jog despite clear opposition. K isn't athletic and tires quickly. When she complained that her feet were hurting, her mom bought her new shoes and workout clothes. The shoes were fine but the clothes were at least 2 sizes too small and hugged K tightly. I don't know why but K continued to wear the clothes instead of getting her mom to exchange them, and during the past jogs K looked uncomfortable and had to stop to slow her breathing. She looked genuinely unwell, and I suggested we walk instead. Her mom proceeded to say K was overreacting, and since she is less than half our age, she should be out running us instead of slowing us down. After that, I walked K home and saw her on the brink of tears. I asked if she wanted to try some different workout clothing styles but she said no. She's been quiet and avoidant of everyone ever since the jogging incident. She comes out of her room to get snacks and that's it.
Usually I don't like to overstep my boundaries, and my sister is very quick to remind me that I don't have children and therefore I have limited understanding about raising one, but that night I got into an argument with my sister. It started with me suggesting I start taking K on after school walks instead of us taking her jogging. My sister said K needs more exercise than that. I suggested buying less junk food and sweets. I advocated for getting K on a diet plan without directly taking food away from her. I suggested we get her ex husband on board. My sister got angry then and began saying how he won't help because he made K fat in the first place, and now K refuses to care about it.
How can I get my sister to see reason? Her comments are only making things worse. She is treating K like an adult who acted out of defiance but fails to realize that K is a child with an eating problem.
Submitted June 06, 2022 at 11:16PM by Comfortable_Tie715 https://ift.tt/tP3dCsw
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