Just as "The Biggest Loser" is winning applause for its careful handling of childhood obesity, a Vogue magazine author who wrote about putting her seven-year-old daughter on a diet and was widely criticized has turned that article into a book, entitled "The Heavy: A Mother, A Daughter, A Diet--A Memoir." Even Dr. Mehmet Oz has taken notice, questioning whether a seven-year-old should diet on his Jan. 18 show. One of his favorite experts on childhood obesity, Dr. Joanna Dolgoff, who also works with "The Biggest Loser," has authored a different approach to dieting for children, entitled "Red Light, Green Light, Eat Right: The Food Solution That Lets Kids Be Kids." She emphasizes that putting too much focus on losing weight can be counter-effective, and that the key is to help your child eat right while providing emotional support, love and non-food rewards.
However, for Dara-Lynn Weiss, weight loss became the focus for her daughter Bea. She put Bea on a strict diet, restricting her sweets, requiring weekly visits to a nutritionist and weigh-ins in order to help her seven-year-old lose weight. Although none deny that the little girl had a problem (at four feet, four inches tall, she weighed 93 pounds), critics challenged Dara's parenting methodology and decision to publicize it.
Now that Bea has achieved a healthy weight, Dara wrote the memoir "The Heavy: A Mother, A Daughter, A Diet--A Memoir" in defense of her actions. "People are so critical of childhood obesity, and then you try to do something about it -- to help your child -- and they’re critical of that, too," she told the New York Times. "The backlash was part of the whole reason I wanted the conversation to continue," she explained. Thus her decision to write the memoir in which she talks about the diet and the parenting "backlash" that she experienced. What do you think? Good parenting? Bad parenting? Post your thoughts below.
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