Children's book about dieting?

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GreenGettingLean
GreenGettingLean Posts: 252 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44372471/

Thought many MFPers would find this article interesting, so I'm passing it on. I love the idea of a children's book about living a healthy and active lifestyle, but I think this is all wrong. The title alone makes me shudder - kids don't need to worry about dieting! They're kids! If anything, someone should publish a parenting book about how to encourage good eating habits in their children.

Thoughts on this?
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Replies

  • notebooksecrets
    notebooksecrets Posts: 36 Member
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    I was going to post this but you beat me to it.

    I think it's horrific, wrong, and completely inappropriate. Kids are becoming anorexic as young as 5 or 6 now, they don't need even more pressure from the media etc to tell them what a girl should look like. Whatever happened to an innocent childhood?
  • Myobi
    Myobi Posts: 129 Member
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    I think kids should focus on being kids. PARENTS should focus on making sure their kids are eating healthy and enough to fuel them throughout the day (and grow up - not out).

    It seems a little ridiculous to me.
  • pilotgirl2007
    pilotgirl2007 Posts: 368 Member
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    I didn't look at the link but I agree with you. Kids should not be dieting they should be learning from their parents and playing outside having fun. Write a book about nutrition ect for kids and thats great but specifically about "dieting" I think thats the wrong approach. I think that sets our kids up for having eating disorders etc
  • georgiag111
    georgiag111 Posts: 424
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    I was going to post this but you beat me to it.

    I think it's horrific, wrong, and completely inappropriate. Kids are becoming anorexic as young as 5 or 6 now, they don't need even more pressure from the media etc to tell them what a girl should look like.

    This - I think it all comes to the parents, my kids have NO weight issues EVER if anything they are so active they dont gain weight. Everything always comes down to upbringing and the parents
  • KayaSamantha
    KayaSamantha Posts: 157 Member
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    While I fully support young children learning about the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle I think this book misses the mark. It doesn't include anything about parents and their role in helping their children make healthy choices. Also a rhyming book about a 14 year old dieting and getting boys' attention isn't really relatable to 4-8 year olds (the books target age range).
  • Goddess111682
    Goddess111682 Posts: 32 Member
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    I am in agreement with you...Its the childs fault, its the parents fault, and they should be the one to ensure their children are eating a healthy and active life style...

    In saying this, I have 2 step kids that the mom over feeds and doesnt encourage them to go out and play...We have my step-son full time, and I monitor his eating, and he loves to work out with me, and as a family we go out and play baseball once a week...and while I stress that eating healthy is better for him, I make sure that he isnt focused on it....I am!
  • MrsSmith2010
    MrsSmith2010 Posts: 225 Member
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    I agree with a comment on that site, I think it's a good idea but it was poorly executed. VERY poorly... And diet ISN'T a dirty word, I actually wrote about this in my blog this morning. We are all on diets, it's just a matter of wheather or not they are healthy or unhealthy; balaced or imbalanced.

    I think children should be educated as to how to eat healthy and why exercise is important. I also think it's important to address weight loss, just not in the 4-6 year range.

    One thing...She also gets higher grades and is invited to her first sleepover, bringing along deodorant spray so she doesn't have to worry about leaving a smell when she uses the bathroom...what is THAT about?!
  • ChirishGirl
    ChirishGirl Posts: 111
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    This article pissed me the eff off. Not really the article - but a lot of the comments on there. THOSE are the people that make all of this process so much harder.
  • Goddess111682
    Goddess111682 Posts: 32 Member
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    That was meant to say* NOT THE CHILDS FAULT*...
  • summertime_girl
    summertime_girl Posts: 3,945 Member
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    From reading the article, I have no problem with the premise of the book, but the execution just blows, from every standpoint.
  • rodneyderrick
    rodneyderrick Posts: 483 Member
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    People are always looking for a reason to be offended, or peeved--or even upset that a simple children's book about losing weight is going to hurt their kids. Before the book was published, before anybody has had a chance to read the book, before they wrote the article about the book, parents of obese children started to complain. "This is going to hurt our children!" Really? Our country has moved past a state of an emergency, when it comes to children and obesity. Kids born today will not live as long as their parents, all because they don't have a clue about nutrition. Kids are walking around with Type II Diabetes, losing legs by the age of thirty, and dropping dead by forty. This is today's reality. I find this offensive. I am offended when I see the new Army recruits who cannot pass a simple physical fitness test, and men who break a hip trying to do a two-mile run. The war on obesity is a war, and I'm sorry if a few kids' feelings were hurt in the process, but that's life.
  • tladame
    tladame Posts: 465 Member
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    Wow, this is a tough one. On one hand, I think it may send the wrong message to young girls about body image & self-esteem. On the other hand, what if there is a little girl out there who is being made fun of because of her weight, and this book could help her? I don't know. I guess it all depends on the book's content, which we haven't seen yet.

    I sure hope to avoid this situation in the future. I'm doing my best to feed my toddler good foods and set a good example for her.
  • kklindsey
    kklindsey Posts: 382 Member
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    i wish I could remember the article I read but an eating disorder doctor said when asked what parents could do to prevent their children from having an eating disorder "never ever ever put them on a diet". I struggle with this daily. my youngest son is 12 and weighs twice what he should. I have been working on keeping his weight at least the same(no gains) and maybe taking some off for the last two years.

    I will NOT put him on a diet and I can NOT make him lose weight, he has to WANT to. I try to have good food choices in the house but I do not ban treats and snacks. We talk about what a serving size is, if I find he is overeating a certain treat I point it out to him and then don't buy that snack for a few weeks. He knows about calories, we have a full gym, I am willing to work out with him and play with him. We put up a pop up pool this summer so he could swim. I am very supportive. I could put him on a diet like my Mom did to me when I was 9(weight watchers) and I could have the weight off him in no time flat. But it would be ALL me and we would both be miserable.

    I keep talking to him and keep letting him know that I am here to help him whenever he is ready.
  • smscott87
    smscott87 Posts: 40
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    I remember seeing this on TV with the author explaining it. It think he did go about it the wrong way. Instead of the girl trying to get the boys to notice her and get popular, it should have been for her health and the parents should have been involved in the story.

    I know if my parents would have taught healthier ways (living in the country, it's mostly stick to the ribs good home cooking) I think I would have started my healthier lifestyle and not have so much weight right now.
  • summertime_girl
    summertime_girl Posts: 3,945 Member
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    i wish I could remember the article I read but an eating disorder doctor said when asked what parents could do to prevent their children from having an eating disorder "never ever ever put them on a diet". I struggle with this daily. my youngest son is 12 and weighs twice what he should. I have been working on keeping his weight at least the same(no gains) and maybe taking some off for the last two years.

    I will NOT put him on a diet and I can NOT make him lose weight, he has to WANT to. I try to have good food choices in the house but I do not ban treats and snacks. We talk about what a serving size is, if I find he is overeating a certain treat I point it out to him and then don't buy that snack for a few weeks. He knows about calories, we have a full gym, I am willing to work out with him and play with him. We put up a pop up pool this summer so he could swim. I am very supportive. I could put him on a diet like my Mom did to me when I was 9(weight watchers) and I could have the weight off him in no time flat. But it would be ALL me and we would both be miserable.

    I keep talking to him and keep letting him know that I am here to help him whenever he is ready.

    At 12, he didn't get to this weight overnight. And unless he has a metabolic issue, it's absolutely something you could have, and should have, controlled from the get-go. Parents get their children taken away for malnourishing them. It's no less harmful to overfeed them.

    It's harsh, but I know how hard it is to be an overweight adult, I can't even imagine how hard it would be to be an overweight kid. Other kids are so cruel, even about mundane issues. You owe it to your child to get him on the right path.
  • GreenGettingLean
    GreenGettingLean Posts: 252 Member
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    Glad to hear all the different opinions on this! I am the oldest of 5 children and between the 5 of us, we cover just about every body type! My youngest brother is only 7 years old and due to my dad's neurotic dieting (considers himself healthy because his calories only come from steak and booze), is already keenly aware that he is on the larger side. Granted, my little brother is very tall and muscular, but he ALREADY has self esteem issues and calls himself fat. It puts me in tears. And what does my dad give him as a "healthy" treat? Half a banana, covered in Hershey's syrup. Or tells him he has to finish his "vegetables," aka all of the french fries on his plate.

    Everything I know about health and nutrition, I have taught myself. In fact, I have even started to help my mom (who is unfortunately morbidly obese) transition to a healthy lifestyle! This is why this book really affected me - it is so, so important to teach children how to be healthy. Even their future children depend on it! But this book totally misses the mark by focusing on dieting.
  • kklindsey
    kklindsey Posts: 382 Member
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    i wish I could remember the article I read but an eating disorder doctor said when asked what parents could do to prevent their children from having an eating disorder "never ever ever put them on a diet". I struggle with this daily. my youngest son is 12 and weighs twice what he should. I have been working on keeping his weight at least the same(no gains) and maybe taking some off for the last two years.

    I will NOT put him on a diet and I can NOT make him lose weight, he has to WANT to. I try to have good food choices in the house but I do not ban treats and snacks. We talk about what a serving size is, if I find he is overeating a certain treat I point it out to him and then don't buy that snack for a few weeks. He knows about calories, we have a full gym, I am willing to work out with him and play with him. We put up a pop up pool this summer so he could swim. I am very supportive. I could put him on a diet like my Mom did to me when I was 9(weight watchers) and I could have the weight off him in no time flat. But it would be ALL me and we would both be miserable.

    I keep talking to him and keep letting him know that I am here to help him whenever he is ready.

    At 12, he didn't get to this weight overnight. And unless he has a metabolic issue, it's absolutely something you could have, and should have, controlled from the get-go. Parents get their children taken away for malnourishing them. It's no less harmful to overfeed them.

    It's harsh, but I know how hard it is to be an overweight adult, I can't even imagine how hard it would be to be an overweight kid. Other kids are so cruel, even about mundane issues. You owe it to your child to get him on the right path.

    do you have children? no, sorry take that back. I don't care if you have children or not, *kitten* off.
  • Nanadena
    Nanadena Posts: 739 Member
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    The author has been on TV and is an over weight adult. Irony?
  • georgiag111
    georgiag111 Posts: 424
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    The author has been on TV and is an over weight adult. Irony?

    :laugh:
  • summertime_girl
    summertime_girl Posts: 3,945 Member
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    As a matter of fact, yes, I have two kids. And since I have struggled so much with weight, I make sure that they don't. I don't want them to feel like I do/did.

    And I suspect your reaction is because you know I'm right.

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