Comments about ‘New children's book on dieting called 'outrageous,' 'horrifying' and 'dangerous'’

I am going to join the applause on this book. It is time we stop coddling our kids and set them straight. We don't do this anymore for fear that "it will make them feel bad". Well guess what? As parents, our job is to 'teach' our children how to live. When we stop doing that for fear of their self esteem, we only set them up to be crushed later in life. That is called failure.

Eating disorders do not happen because of parents telling their kids to put down the ding dongs! They don't happen because of thing girls in the movies. It is proven time and again that eating disorders are caused by brain chemistry, NOT by what people see or hear. We need to stop with the child worship!

Kids look to adults for guidance. When we are too afraid to give it to them, they will fail, and in time, we all will fail. Time to be strong and give our kids the tools they need to survive, not the feel good moments that will never prepare them for life outside of our homes.

"It is unacceptable that the book focuses on teenage girls only and not ALL children. Why is that? Why is a boy not the main character, fretting about fitting into his football jersey?"

Maybe becuase after his pre-season conditioning, he'll have no problem fitting into his jersey?

I agree that dieting books need to target both males and females, but most females do have a far more sedentary lifestyle than their male counterparts.

Mukkake:
For the 70% of boys who don't play high school football, the risks of sedentary lifestyle are also a concern.

I would LOVE to have a "diet" book that gave me recipes and ideas for healthy meals and ways to teach my kids how to eat better and take better care of themselves. There is nothing wrong with it.

I think the better solution would be to have a book geared to parents, to have the parents experience what their children are going thru when they are raising overweight children.

Here is a thought.

For those who think that the book is "outrageous" "horrifying" and "dangerous",
I suggest that you don't get it.

I haven't seen the book and so I can't offer an intelligent opinion on it one way or another, but speaking to the concept in general: I wonder if the parents who are outraged about this book are as outraged by the TV shows marketing "tweens" with main characters who are pencil thin and wearing form fitting clothes, etc. Seems that a book that teaches a bit about dieting isn't as harmful to a child's self-esteem as constant reinforcement from media that they must look a certain way.

The people most offended by this book are probably those who have fat children. Fat children with low self esteem become fat adults .... with low self esteem.