127 pound girl-athlete given a "fat letter" to take home from school.

[laundry_queen]

206. At this age

destroying their self esteem and shaming them in front of peers is going to have a much longer lasting effect than a bit of pudge. Most girls I went to school with who were a bit pudgy as teens really slimmed out as adults. And some of us who were slim...now, not so much.

I agree with what you say about genes. My oldest dd is skinny - 5'4" and maybe 110 lbs? at 16 yrs old. My second is heavy...not sure of her weight but she's a size 10 at age 13 while my oldest is a size 2. They were like that from day one. My oldest was nearly off the charts skinny as an exclusively breastfed baby and my second was off the charts in the other direction, also as an exclusively breastfed infant. They. were. born. that. way. My oldest takes after my ex and my second takes after me. The only reason I was a normal weight as a teen is my mom put me on diets, shamed me, punished me, made me feel like shit if I ate anything that wasn't pristine...she emotionally abused me into thinness. I actually have PCOS which means I have issues losing weight and I've had it since I hit puberty. I can tell you - trying to force me to be thin as a teen made me into an obese adult with food issues (and everything is made worse by the PCOS). Shaming these young girls into losing weight to fit into their charts is doing them no favors long-term.

And god, do I agree with your last sentence!!