Dd says her she has fat thighs :-(

[Dancergirl]

I'm so worried about my middle dd. She's 10, year 5 at school. Brought her home from school today after a sports club so she was wearing her PE kit shorts. Dd3 was sitting next to her in the car and suddenly dd announced that she has fat thighs She was looking down at her own thighs and comparing them with dd3's (who happens to have quite skinny legs).

I managed to reassure dd that your thighs DO splay out when you sit down as they get sort of squashed so look a different shape. I also told her that her weight is within the range for her height and that people are all different shapes and sizes. And that MY thighs look like that when I sit down!

I think she was reassured but I am very worried because of her personality type. She's always been very sensitive, emotional, has a lot of ups and downs and is a perfectionist. I'm hope I'm wrong but I'm worrying that all this combined might mean she is at risk of an eating disorder when she's older.

I do as much as I can to build her self-esteem and we don't talk about dieting etc. What else can I do/tell her?

[Turniptwirl]

Is she starting to go through puberty? At 10 you don't take into account that you're more developed than other kids, you just see "fat me" and "skinny them" or I did anyway

Make sure she knows she's beautiful, talk about being healthy but don't make it s big deal or that she needs to diet, just about how we all need a balanced diet which includes all the food groups and some treats, and exercise like walking the dog or running round the playground with her friends.

Something you could try is pointing out the different between your youngest dd's skinny little girl legs and grown up celebrity lady's legs, compared with skinny little girl, even the sexiest women will have far legs!