The Biggest Threat of Dara-Lynn Weiss and Vogue’s ‘7-Year-Old on a Diet’ – The Daily Beast.
Some of you may have read the article in Vogue by Dara-Lynn Weiss about putting her 7-year-old daughter on a diet after her doctor labeled her as obese, or you may just have heard of it. Many parents and experts have railed against the ways that Weiss used humiliation as a tool to control her daughter’s eating and shopping as a reward for losing weight.
It seems pretty obvious in reading the article that the author did some stupid things. But what is also clear is her confusion over the right way to deal with childhood weight issues. How many of us, as parents, have confronted an issue with our child and stood there in mental and emotional confusion, trying to figure out how to approach it? I know I have! Weight issues, especially if a parent herself has struggled with her weight, are emotionally loaded. When a parent who is aware of the health risks of obesity sees their child gaining weight, he or she worries about their health and about the emotional repercussions of being overweight. As most of us know, being called fat on the playground is the ultimate insult.
So how do we deal with weight issues in a healthy way? First of all, it’s really important to understand the Thin Ideal and how to handle that in the context of parenting. For specific information, please see my post on Fighting the Fear of Fat: Addressing the Thin Ideal with Young Children. Here are some other specific ways to help your child develop healthy attitudes about weight:
Parenting is hard sometimes, it can be confusing. Our own feelings and baggage come into the picture. Let’s try to take a step back and get the support we need to give our kids healthy guidance. And when you fail and let your emotions get the best of you, as we all do sometimes, pull yourself together, get the information you need and get back in there ready to help your child learn healthy lessons. You can do it, friend. Maybe not perfectly, but with love and care.
In our house we promote healthy living as whole and that means eating well and exercising.