My take on Size/Age Correlation Question

[Guest guest]

My parents introduced the idea of size not equaling

age by giving me examples. There was a family that we

were good friends with that had a daughter who had

's Syndrome and my parents would always point

out that we were the same size but that she was older.

My younger brother and I are only 18 months apart, so

my parents would also use him as an example, " You're

older than even though he is taller than you. " I

think it's really important to also be careful of

" sizist " language. Instead of saying you can do such

and such when you're bigger, say you can do such and

such when you're older. I also think it's really

important for kids to be treated as their age, not

their size by EVERYONE in their lives (not just

parents). My parents never carried me after a certain

age because age wise it was inappropriate. I remember

begging to be carried and saying things like, " but my

legs are smaller! " My parents would always respond

with something along the lines of, " People your age

don't get carried. If we're walking too fast, we'd be

happy to slow down so you don't get so tired. " I

don't remember them doing anything else to help me

understand that size does not necessarily correlate to

age, I think I just eventually got it (and would be

the first to correct people when they treated me

younger than I should have been because of my size!).

~Hillary

22, RSS

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