Fatty. Fatty Boomba. Fatso. Piggy Fat-Fat.
They’re the sort of nicknames that would make you wince if you heard adults using them on each other. But how about when adults use them on babies and kids? How about if it was your baby, and the adult calling him “Fatty” was your mother-in-law?
It’s an issue that crops up regularly in online mums’ forums. One mum, NataSal, on whattoexpect.com, said she’d overheard her mother-in-law referring to her six-month-old son as “Fat Boy”. She said the nickname “hit a nerve” because of issues she’d gone through when she was younger.
“What the heck am I supposed to do with that? … I personally see a healthy-sized baby when I look at him,” she added.
Some mums who replied insisted that “fat” was a compliment when it came to babies.
“In my family, ‘fat’ chunky babies are considered desirable,” wrote Sravie. “The more rolls, the cuter!”
But others sympathised with her.
“My mum has been referring to my son as ‘Fat Boy’, too,” said justUsPlus2. “I’m going to say, ‘Thanks, fat grandma!’”
Another poster, SashaAMB, said her grandmother-in-law started calling her baby daughter “Fatso”.
“It took everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, not to unleash all holy hell on her,” she wrote. “I went on and on about girls and healthy self-esteem until she (temporarily) backed off.”
Top Comments
Weight and appearance are just not part of the conversation at all in our house. We focus on developing physical skills and praising them for having a go at something. It's the only way to mitigate the unrealistic standards of beauty we are constantly bombarded with.
the only person who should use the word fat is a doctor in the context of a relevant conversation in a private setting, not just as a catchall to shame a person who happens to be overweight and dares to have a cold or whatever. The only other exception is if a person asks directly and seriously someone close to them ''am I fat?''. If they are, then be truthful in a gentle way.
There are no other exceptions.