Hardly 'Light Reading' - A Dieting Book for Kids

   The beloved children's book "The Kissing Hand" reads beautifully about the separation anxiety between a mother and child on their first day of school.  "I'll Love You Forever" sweetly chronicles the love between a mother and child throughout a life time.  And now, there's "Maggie Goes on a Diet" feeding kids the idea of dieting.  Really?

   Are we at this point now?  Telling children their lives will be better and they'll have more friends if they are thin?  According to a local doctor, that's the message he got out of the controversial new children's book being slammed by critics.  But, he was also quick to add, it's a good conversation starter about a subject that needs to be talked about:  childhood obesity.


  As a mother, this kills me.  Politicians whine America's children are fat, and yet we cut P.E. from the curriculum.  First Lady Michelle Obama is criticized for her "Let's Move" campaign aimed at bringing fresh good to school cafeterias, because "she has no right to tell us what to eat."  Kids are steadily getting type one diabetes now due to obesity, and yet fast food is often the only affordable choice to our middle and lower income families.  And now, we're supposed to lull them off to sleep with a bedtime story about dieting as a child.

   I haven't read the book, just exerpts.  It's not on book store shelves until October...but you have to admit, the premise is some serious food for thought.  Watch my interview with a local doctor for more to chew on.