Around that same age, my DD looked at a picture of herself in a leo and said, "I look fat." Like you, I worried a lot. I even talked to her teacher at school whose daughter was a gymnast, so I thought she might be able to offer some advice. Instead she said, "Oh, I have the opposite problem. My daughter in college needs to lose weight but she seems perfectly happy with the ways she looks..." Yikes! Wrong person to turn to for help with this. But, to be honest, DD hasn't ever said anything like that (to me) since then. I guess I would say to just keep an eye on things. If it continues or if you suspect she is limiting her food intake, then it's time to talk to her pediatrician or a counselor. My dear friend's daughter is anorexic and I have read some books on the topic. In one of them, a memoir of the mother of an anorexic daughter, the daughter had actually done a report on anorexia for school before she became anorexic and the mother at one point wondered if maybe knowing so much about the disease actually somehow contributed to her developing it. Obviously, that's not a scientific study or anything, and in general I subscribe to the "knowledge is power" approach to most things, but even that much anecdotal evidence makes me nervous about having my own kids read books about anorexia (especially since my daughters are a dancer and a gymnast, groups which already seem to be "at risk" for developing an eating disorder). Anyway, I hope that, like it appears to have been with my DD, it is just a phase that she will pass quickly out of, but good for you for keeping your mommy antenna tuned for such things!
