Six year old girls should be given lessons in differences, not dieting...
I’m no nutrition expert. However, I do share the feelings of the many nutrition experts who are outraged at a new book which reportedly teaches girls as young as six how to diet.
Maggie Goes On A Diet
The book, titled Maggie Goes On A Diet, is the latest work of American children’s author Paul Kramer. It tells the story of Maggie, a 14 year old girl who starts out ‘overweight and insecure’ but over time, with a bit of exercise, becomes ‘normal-sized’ and then becomes the star of the school football team. The title is scheduled to be released in the US in October, but it is currently available for pre-order from sites including Amazon. It is aimed at children aged between 6 and 12.
All Shapes And Sizes
A few too many years ago, I was a teenage girl. I studied at a girls’ secondary school with hundreds of other teenage girls. Teenage girls can be very rude people- especially when they are talking about other teenage girls. That’s putting it politely. So surely teaching very young girls that slim sports stars are 'cooler' than other girls will only make this situation worse?
As much as they would love to, teenage girls don't all look like magazine models. In reality, teenage girls come in all shapes and sizes. They come in all skin colours, all religions and all levels of physical ability. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and it can’t be helped. That is what I think girls need to be taught from as early an age as possible.
The great thing about six year old girls is that they don’t really know any of this yet. Yes, they may be just starting to discover the existence of a beautiful, blonde, blue-eyed, suntanned, slim ‘girl’ named Barbie, but many of them don’t really notice what she looks like yet. And since they don’t yet really know what ‘perfect beauty’ is, or what ‘normal’ looks like, or that it’s ‘cool’ to be slim, I, for one, think that they are at a perfect age to learn how positive difference can be.
The book’s cover shows Maggie standing in front of a mirror holding up a dress. Instead of teaching girls to do that before they are anywhere near old enough to really care, why not teach them that nice clothes, too, come in all shapes and sizes? Why not write a positive book about difference that doesn’t involve a miraculous ‘cure’ for a ‘problem?’
Why not write a book about Maggie becoming a football star, while keeping her weight as it was? Why not show her becoming secure in herself as she always has been, weight and all? Why not give her a best friend in a wheelchair?
Children Learn What They Live
I once read a lovely poem called Children Learn What They Live. When I heard of Maggie Goes On A Diet, I recalled this poem. These two lines from it seem particularly appropriate:
“If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.”
Why not teach our six year olds- male and female- to accept and love themselves, and others, for exactly who they are? Teach them that young enough, and they might just remember it forever.
Munch Bunch
When I was a six year old girl, we weren’t given books about how to lose weight. However, a creative adult who wanted to teach children about fruit and vegetables had come up with the Munch Bunch- a collection of cartoon character fruits and vegetables with names. The Munch Bunch had a series of books written about them. A TV series about the characters was also created and ran for a short time.
Perhaps the best thing about the Munch Bunch, however, is the range of fruit yogurts based on some of the characters. Being perfect for lunch boxes, these actually encourage children to eat fruit.
So- there’s nothing wrong with teaching young children to eat healthy foods. But they must also be taught that there’s nothing wrong with looking different to everyone else- or enjoying the occasional meal from McDonald’s. Teaching them to diet so they can grow up to be sports stars is nothing more than a recipe for disaster.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is for educational purposes only and should not be used for diagnosis or to guide treatment without the opinion of a health professional. Any reader who is concerned about his or her health should contact a doctor for advice.
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