Maggie Goes On A Diet...

A self-publishing author out of Hawaii has published a book about a pre-teenage girl who thinks she is overweight, so she goes on a diet and transforms into the healthier, soccer-star teenager she wants to be.  Great idea of a book if:

A) the focus was on being healthy, eating right, and staying active and in-shape
B) it wasn't a picture book intended for 6- to 12-year-olds

Check out the editorial article about the book here

I agree with the editorial's author in that young girls should not be focused on whether or not they are "fat" and that "skinny" is the only way to be happy, but I disagree with the statement of "let little [kids] be little [kids]" for 2 reasons.  First of all, little kids, without the proper guidance about what's healthy and what's good for them, will eat whatever they can--including massive amounts of sugary foods that aren't going to do anything for their health, their physical development, or their self-esteem.  Second, if we wait until kids are teenagers to start teaching them and encouraging them to make healthy choices, instead of raising them so that healthy choices are natural and what they have grown up with, then we've waited too long.  So while this book's author went about this is probably a way that is going to turn more people against his book, the basic idea behind the book (aka: help your kid make healthy choices) is a good one.

H and I have talked about this topic for a long time, and have a plan.  We don't want our kids to focus on body image--there will be absolutely no pinching body fat, sly "need to lose" weight comments, or anything like that in our house.  It's inappropriate and all it does is tear apart body image and break down self-confidence.  Instead, we want our kids to grow up in a house where they are taught to make healthy lifestyle choices from a very young age and understand why we make those choices.  We want them to understand what's good for them and how to keep that in their life through being active, and to build their self-confidence and body image through that.  This is extremely important to us, and something that we want our kids to know from the moment they are old enough to understand it.

Will our kids read this book.
Heck no!
Will our kids know that being active, staying in shape, and making healthy food choices is expected of them and important to our family and their well-being.
Absolutely.

xoxo, M