Where Do You Weigh In?

On The Today Show this morning, a very controversial author was interviewed about her book that described the diet that she put her obese 7 year old daughter on. She discussed how she limited her sweets intake and made her eat healthy options, including at her friends’ birthday parties and holiday events.  This book, “The Heavy: A Mother, a Daughter, A Diet,” was first publicized when a section of the book was highlighted in Vogue a few months back and is now causing parents around the country to criticize this one mother’s attempt to make her daughter live a healthier lifestyle.

There are, of course, 2 differing viewpoints on this mother and her memoir.  Some view the fact that she enforced a diet on her prepubescent daughter as astronomically immoral; however the conflicting view is that the mother is trying to reverse poor eating habits that will enhance her daughter’s health for the future.

Due to the fact that 17% of adolescents are considered obese and a much higher percentage of those adolescents are overweight, it is clear that obesity in this country is a rampant problem.  Because of these issues, children who weigh more than they should are at a risk for many more health problems down the line, such as type II diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart disease.

With all of this being said who is the worse parent? This mother who won’t let her chronically overweight daughter eat 2 slices of cake at a party or the one who does?