Kansas Mom Pens Viral Letter to Saleswoman Who She Says Body Shamed Her Daughter

— -- One Kansas mother is turning what she says was her daughter's body shaming incident into a lesson that she wants everyone to listen to.

Megan Naramore Harris took her 13-year-old daughter Alexis dress shopping at Dillard's in Wichita for an upcoming formal last week, and claims on Facebook that a sales associate crossed the line when she began body shaming her daughter.

Harris told ABC News that although Alexis is a "fairly modest child," she obliged her mother's request to try on a long red gown "just for fun." The mother says that after Alexis posed for a picture in the red dress, a sales associate came over and commented on Alexis' weight, calling her fat, and telling Harris that her daughter needed to wear shapewear.

Harris said that she and Alexis left the store quickly after the incident, and when they got home, the 36-year-old mother penned an open letter directed towards the saleswoman on Facebook.

"I wish I had told you how many girls suffer from poor self image and telling them they need something to make them perfect can be very damaging. Girls of all ages, shapes and sizes are perfect because that is how God made them," Harris wrote. "If they feel good in a dress, that is all that should matter. My daughter is tall, she swims, runs, dances and does yoga. She's fit. She's beautiful. She did not need you telling her that she is not perfect."

In the week since Harris posted the photo and open letter to the Dillard's sales associate, the Facebook post has received nearly 500,000 "likes" and has been shared over 80,000 times.

Dillard's Corporate Spokesperson Julie Bull responded to ABC News' request for comment about Harris' Facebook post with the following statement:

"At Dillard’s, our mission is to help people feel good about themselves by enhancing the natural beauty found in all of us. We train our sales associates with the goal of creating a completely positive experience with each visit. It is certainly never our intent to offend our customers. We have reached out to this customer and her daughter, and we appreciate the outreach of so many of our followers and customers to bring this issue to our attention."

Harris told ABC News that she ultimately decided to write the Facebook post in order to create something positive out of what she considers a negative body shaming incident. She said that while she had no idea that her message would spread so far, she is happy that her story has struck a cord with so many people who have faced similar situations.

"It’s turned into such a positive thing," Harris said. "I get thousands of messages a day from people who want to send me their stories."

Harris said that the most important thing that both she and Alexis want people to takeaway from the viral Facebook post is that everyone is "beautiful" just the way they are.

"We just want to tell every girl that you’re beautiful, and you don’t have to rely on other people to tell you that," said Harris.

Read Harris' open letter in full below: