Please let me preface this post with the following: I am on a prescribed steroid that may or may not be making me ragey.  Now.  Moving on.

Adult members of the general public: Would you tell an overweight child that they are fat?  Would you ask a little girl in a wheelchair if she misses walking?  Would you call a little boy with glasses a four-eyed freak?

If your answer to any of these questions is yes, then you are a horrible person and your momma raised you wrong.  If your answer to these questions are no, then good on you, but you need to do better.

I am short.  Probably considered extremely short as I am not over 5’0 tall.  My husband isn’t short, but he isn’t tall either.  He is considered average.  The biggest thing on my kids’ bodies is their heads.  They aren’t tall.  Some people might even consider them short..

With that being said, I have to wonder why the asshats of the world feel it necessary to make comments to my children about their lack of height.

Yeah, I’m talking to you, nurse at the dermatologist’s office.  You don’t think my son realizes he is small for his age?  You don’t think the shitheads on the playground at school don’t make that abundantly clear to him?  You just have to point it out with an exclamation of “You are seven?  You are really tiny, huh?”

 I am also talking to you, coworker of Hollywood Boyfriend Jeremy Renner.  When you ask my daughter, in the presence of her parents, how old she is and she tells you she is three, why do you feel the need to question her?  “You can’t be three.  You are so small!”  When Moo tells you again that she is three, maybe you should listen to her.  Maybe her walking away from you should be an indication that she doesn’t like what you are saying.

Also, this might come as a news flash to you all, but us short people realize we are short.  I don’t need you, grown man that I have to be polite to because my job requires it, to tell me that I am short.  My inability to buy a pair of pants without having them altered to fit my nubs kind of clued me into that.   Nor do I need you to ask me if I am short because I have spina bifida.  Maybe you should read up on diseases before diagnosing people willy nilly.

Stop and think for a minute before you speak.  When you tell my daughter that she can’t be three because she is small, you are telling her you think she is lying.  When you constantly tell my children that they are small, they pick up on the fact that you are saying small in a negative way.  Really? That’s what you wanna do to my kids?  Give them a negative feeling about a body trait they have no control over?  

Maybe you just have no idea how to speak to a child.  Here’s a hint, don’t criticize their bodies.  In case you need a little help in the right direction, here is a list of socially acceptable questions:

1. How’s school going?
2. Read any good books lately?
3. What is your favorite thing to do outside?
4. Do you like to sing?
5. What is your favorite activity?

So let us recap. First, shut your face about the size of my kids.  They are healthy.  There is nothing wrong with them.  There is something wrong with you if you can’t accept that.  Second, SHUT YOUR FACE.  No ifs. No ands.  No buts.  I don’t care if you are telling my daughter that she is small and dainty and adorable or if my son is so small, yet mighty.  You don’t need to comment on my child’s body.  One comment is enough to cause hurt.  Multiple comments is enough to turn a non-issue into a big upset for a young child.  

Chose your words carefully.  Or you are going to get my ‘roid rage unleashed all over your nasty attitude.