A dad who put his daughter on a diet and started taking her to the gym four times a week has been accused of ’emotional damage’ by the girl’s mum.
The parents split up when when their child was five and the dad moved away, but tried to stay as involved in her up-bringing as he could.
He moved back last year and he now takes care of their nine-year-old daughter on alternate weeks.
The dad says he has noticed his daughter, who he refers to as ‘M’, has started to put on weight, saying: “She’s not obese but seeing her in person, I’ve noticed she has a belly which hangs over her waistband, and she wears 12-13 clothes despite only being nine.”
When he raised it with the mum, she ‘got defensive’, saying they eat the same diet and her daughter plays sport twice a week.
(Image: Getty Images)
The dad decided to take action by introducing portion control and changing her diet by packing ‘lean lunches’ – as well as taking her to the gym four times a week where they do parent and child classes.
Last week, his daughter was invited to a birthday party at the cinema, where they were asked to bring their own snacks.
He sent her with a bag of veggie sticks and hummus to show that ‘snacks can be healthy’ and said she ‘made a little fuss’ about not getting sweets but ‘seemed fine’.
“Next day ex texts,” he wrote. “I head over and ex isn’t happy, M is upset and won’t look at me. Apparently when they were sat waiting for the movie kids started comparing snacks.
“M told the other kids that they were gonna get fat and unhealthy because their parents gave them those snacks.
“She said she had to eat the veggies so she could lose weight, and she wasn’t allowed any popcorn (I never said this).
(Image: Getty Images)
“Then at their house after they ordered pizza for the kids – M refused to eat saying she was gonna get fat. The parents called ex and she came and got her.
“M was crying saying that she was scared if she ate anything bad she’d put on weight and everyone would hate her. She told ex about our diet and gym. I hadn’t because it was my weeks and why should I divulge all our plans.”
His daughter’s mum says she often refuses to eat and blamed the dad for giving her a complex.
He argued that if she was healthy she ‘wouldn’t have a belly and be bigger than other girls’, saying: “At least I care about what the girl puts in her mouth.”
It led to the mum telling him that M was happier before he moved back to the area and she would stop letting him see her if he didn’t stop ’emotionally damaging’ her.
After opening it up for debate on Reddit, he found support in very short supply.
One replied: “If your daughter is crying about her weight and scared to eat then you have gone about this poorly. This is the definition of ’emotional damage’.
“You may have good intentions but something is going very wrong here. You’re the a**hole for not taking that on board.”
Another wrote: “Don’t body shame your nine year old daughter.
“There’s a huge difference between living healthy and the s*** your doing. A nine year old shouldn’t be concerned over eating a piece of pizza and becoming fat.”
