Parents often wonder about the best way to work with their kids on weight, dieting, and body image.

What can you do when you're worried about your child's weight? How does a parent avoid passing down

intergenerational patterns

of body shaming? Welcome back to Project Parenthood. I'm your host, Dr. Nanika Kor,

clinical psychologist, and respectful parenting therapist. Each week I'll help you repair

and deepen your parent-child connection, increase self-compassion

and cooperation from your kids, and cultivate joy, peace, and resilience in your relationship

with them. Recently, a parent reached out to me about their concern for their daughter's increasing

body weight, along with their fear of passing on to her the

unhealthy messages about weight they learn from their own parents. Here's this parent's email,

which is edited for clarity. Dear Dr. Core, I'm writing to you because I'm really concerned

about my teenage daughter's weight. She's always been what people might call

a healthy or sturdy kid, but lately, she's gained a significant amount of weight. I think she tries

to eat well, but she's got this huge appetite. And like most teenagers, she's pretty over-scheduled,

and doesn't have much time, desire, or motivation for physical activity.

Let me say right off the bat that I know I have my own body image issues and I'm worried that I'm projecting them onto my daughter.

When I mentioned that she seemed to have gained weight, she denied it, and I've noticed she's now

started wearing baggier clothes as if she wants to hide her body. She shuts down whenever I raise

any issue about her weight or her body. I feel like I'm completely failing her. I want to help

her, but I don't know how. My therapist has been pointing out how my own body

image and body weight issues are triggering my fears about my daughter, and she's right. Even though

I've been working on my issues for years, I still somehow haven't gotten to the place where I can

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