Grandmother Bodyshames Teen Granddaughter So Girl's Dad Steps In To Thwart Her Plans

Sep 29, 2023

Although body image issues and awareness have gained more attention in the media and society at large, body shaming has unfortunately not been eradicated. For years, people have been body-shamed by friends and even family. Research also shows that teenage girls struggle more with body image, and about 50% of 13-year-old girls are unhappy with their appearance. This number increases as they advance in age, and by age 17, the same thing can be said for about 80% of girls.

While body and fat shaming can be subtle or brash, both have the same effect. They deplete the self-esteem of the person at the receiving end. Thankfully, there are individuals who frown upon body shaming and clamp down on it as much as they can. Reddit user Beneficial_Gas2232 took up this mantle when he protected his daughter against fat shaming. He reached out to the AITA subreddit in 2022, where he shared the story. The Redditor revealed how he stopped his mother-in-law, who constantly body-shamed his teen daughter, from having unsupervised interactions with her.

The OP (original poster) started by giving an insight into his family. He shared that he has been married to his wife for over a decade. He also added that they had two beautiful children, a teen daughter and a son. The Redditor continued that his mother-in-law has some views concerning how one should look, which he did not support. He revealed that in 2020, on his daughter's 12th birthday, his wife's mother sent her "a book about crash dieting," promising to help her lose 10 pounds in three days. He relayed that the effect the toxic body shaming had on his daughter was disheartening. 

He wrote:

"Our daughter was devastated because the underlying message was clear as day. It was a month until she started eating a whole plate of food for dinner again."

The Reddit user stated that his daughter was a healthy, studious, highly active and happy girl. However, her grandmother believed that the teenage girl was not reaching her "full potential." He explained that his MIL's thoughts about his daughter were that she could be on the front covers of various magazines "if she can just shed some weight." 

No father will stand still and watch a child they love be body-shamed by anyone, including their grandmother. Since his wife's mother proved that her views on his daughter's weight were negative, the Redditor added, "I have made it my mission to block any unsupervised contact, and this includes gifts."

Since the first clear sign his mother-in-law showed of body-shaming, according to the OP, was through a gift on his daughter's birthday, he decided to block off any means of that happening a second time. During the teenager’s birthday, his MIL texted and asked for the family’s new address. 

The Redditor continued that his mother-in-law would have normally asked her daughter for their new address. Fortunately for him, his wife did not respond to her text messages within a few minutes, prompting her to text him instead. He further explained that if his wife had seen the message, she would have responded with their correct address, but he had a different plan. He shared:

"I was able to respond first with a fake one and tell my wife no response was necessary."

The OP added that was the best option since he could not guarantee that he would be home when the gifts arrived. 

He wanted to protect his daughter and prevent such heartbreaking events of receiving body-shaming gifts from repeating themselves. The Redditor shared that he "gave her some numbers/ a street somewhere that I wasn't even sure existed." He added that they found out the address did not exist after his daughter's birthday. He explained:

"Both she and my wife were furious, and my wife amended the address I gave her before. Grandma insisted it was a completely innocent package."

The gift was eventually delivered to their actual address. Fortunately, he decided to work from home the day the package was delivered. When he opened the gift, he found "a baton twirling uniform" which was "at least two sizes too small." The Reddit user continued that he sat his wife down to talk, but she refused to acknowledge it. He added that his wife and her mother were even more furious because he threw the uniform in their neighbor's garbage.

Many Reddit users took to the comments section. While some disagreed with how he handled the situation with his wife, they all accepted how he protected his daughter. One user wrote: "This screams to me like MIL has this mindset of 'be skinny and you'll be successful' which was instilled in wife. Wife doesn't see anything wrong with it because she grew up the same way/was treated the same."

Another user commented: "Your wife/mom should acknowledge that her mother has issues with her granddaughter's weight whether she's overweight or not doesn't matter it's none of her business"

A third Reddit user also advised the OP. They wrote, "OP needs to sign up for USPS mail notifications so they know whenever mail is coming."

Other media users also commended the OP for his remarkable efforts to protect his daughter from body-shaming. 

Amazing, isn't it, how this father took steps against his daughter being body-shamed? What are your thoughts on the prevalence of body shaming on the internet and in society? Let us know, and be sure to pass this on to others.