08-26-2011, 10:57 AM
Agree very much, Leanne. Assuming a child's gross obesity is not due to a medical condition, then it's tantamount to child abuse on the part of the parent. Food is such a personal issue that speaking up and criticizing is hard but it has to be done. The message is out there, the information is out there. Talk about the problem, and speak to kids about it. But recognize that the change has to come primarily from the system within each household... it's family habits that must change in order to guide the child.
TS, there's no doubt the author had good intentions... I feel a little bad for criticizing. Nobody's trying to shoot the messenger here. But this children's picture book tackled a sensitive subject that is very easy to get wrong, and based on the info we know about its plot, the author may have gone the wrong direction with it. Like you said, we can't comment on tone (only reviewers and critics who have read it in advance can). But plot-wise, it involves Maggie, the title character, having low self-esteem and being taunted because of her weight. Once she sheds the weight and joins a football team, presto! She gains many friends and is now popular. You can see why it would be a problematic story to tell a little girl. First of, how much of her unhappiness with herself is due to feeling rejected by her peers... only for the story to end by validating the perspective of her tormentors? Second, going on a diet is hard. Even adults find it so hard to stick with a diet and get results they are happy with... kids will probably get even less of the tools adults have (they have to eat whatever is served at the cafeteria and at the family dinner table). So if an overweight child decides she is unhappy with herself, then the book tells her the way to be happy and pretty and popular is to get thin only its even harder than the book makes it look, how could that not give the kid an eating disorder?
You made a very good point about how a book could be used by parents to open a discussion about this. I think I would have approved of the book if the parents of the title character were themselves actively involved, with them getting healthy as a family. It would ring more true as a way to open discussion on the subject. As it is written now, it puts unfair guilt and pressure on the child.
TS, there's no doubt the author had good intentions... I feel a little bad for criticizing. Nobody's trying to shoot the messenger here. But this children's picture book tackled a sensitive subject that is very easy to get wrong, and based on the info we know about its plot, the author may have gone the wrong direction with it. Like you said, we can't comment on tone (only reviewers and critics who have read it in advance can). But plot-wise, it involves Maggie, the title character, having low self-esteem and being taunted because of her weight. Once she sheds the weight and joins a football team, presto! She gains many friends and is now popular. You can see why it would be a problematic story to tell a little girl. First of, how much of her unhappiness with herself is due to feeling rejected by her peers... only for the story to end by validating the perspective of her tormentors? Second, going on a diet is hard. Even adults find it so hard to stick with a diet and get results they are happy with... kids will probably get even less of the tools adults have (they have to eat whatever is served at the cafeteria and at the family dinner table). So if an overweight child decides she is unhappy with herself, then the book tells her the way to be happy and pretty and popular is to get thin only its even harder than the book makes it look, how could that not give the kid an eating disorder?
You made a very good point about how a book could be used by parents to open a discussion about this. I think I would have approved of the book if the parents of the title character were themselves actively involved, with them getting healthy as a family. It would ring more true as a way to open discussion on the subject. As it is written now, it puts unfair guilt and pressure on the child.
PS. If you can, try your hand at giving some of the others a bit of feedback. If you already have, thanks, can you do some more?