What do you say if someone calls your child ‘fat’? Body image coach has perfect message

Brianna Campos was 8 years old when she was body-shamed by a pediatrician at her annual wellness visit.

“She said to me, ‘You are too fat. You need to lose weight, you need to exercise, you need to eat fruits and vegetables and not reward yourself with dessert,” Campos, 33, tells TODAY.com.

Campos started crying. She recalls how her mother didn’t know what to say or do.

“It was such a traumatizing experience,” she says. “The doctor never asked what I ate or what my movement habits were — she just made assumptions based on my body size.”

At the time, Campos was playing soccer and dancing three times a week.

“I went home from that appointment and I remember getting in the bath and praying to God that he would make me skinny,” she says. “And of course that didn’t happen.”

Campos remembers there were “different food rules” for her brothers. Because they were smaller, they were allowed second helpings while she was not.

By age 13, Campos was restricting. According Common Sense Media, 80% of 10-year-old girls have been on a diet, and are more fearful of becoming fat than they are of war, developing cancer, or losing both of their parents.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Campos says.

Recently, Campos, a licensed mental health counselor, made a video for kids who are struggling with body image. Though the clip was directed children, it has left many adults in tears.

“Hi friends, my name is Bri and I’m fat,” she begins. “Before you get upset, I don’t mean fat in a bad way. I’m sure there are going to be people who try to use that word to hurt me — but to me, it’s a descriptor. I want to show you what I mean.”

Campos then proceeds to to hold up a grape, a banana and an orange.

“All of those things are fruit, and all of them have different shapes, sizes and colors,” she says. “The world is going to tell you that bodies should have one size. But just like fruit, dogs, and plants — people come in different shapes, sizes and colors. None of them bad. None of them good. Just different.”

“This made me cry and I really wish I had seen this when I was little,” one person wrote in the comments.

Added another, “Oh my god, my nine year old daughter just got bullied for her body for the first time this week. Thank you for this, I can’t wait to show her.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com