Mom Puts 7-Year-Old Daughter on Strict Diet
Tuesday, April 16, 2013 9:00AM
Dara-Lynn Weiss explained why she decided to put her overweight 7-year-old daughter on a strict diet, and said she did it because of health-related reasons: her child has high blood pressure. Dara-Lynn said she was approached by Vogue magazine to write an article about it, and even authored a book documenting her experience, "The Heavy."
Co-host Kimora Lee Simmons also commented on the situation, saying Dara-Lynn's move to put her story on the glossy pages of Vogue seemed contradictory, since high fashion magazines are covered with rail-thin supermodels.
Dara-Lynn's decision to put her young child on a diet was certainly controversial among our "Anderson Live" audience members and social media fans, with many questioning whether the mom did for her own selfish reasons, or after consideration of her child's best interests. Dara-Lynn revealed that she was also an overweight child, and struggled with her weight for many years.
Other audience members applauded the mom for bravely putting her story out there, and for instilling smart and healthy habits in her daughter at such a young age.
Do you think this mom did the right thing?
Are you concerned about how your child perceives weight and health? Dr. Robyn Silverman, body image expert and author of "Good Girls Don't Get Fat," shares her top tips for raising a child with a healthy outlook on weight.
Filed Under: As Seen On The Show
Comments
I feel the sagment was too short and not as infomative as it could have been. I personally think the word "Diet" can be misconstrued.
Discussing with a Doctor or better yet, a Nutritionist, first in regards to anybody going on any form of a "Diet" is the best way to make sure the person/people on the "Diet" is/are getting the nutriton needed. A nutritionist will know actually more-so than a Doctor, what would be best for a child because they take into consideration medical hystory as well as proper intake for child age, size and disposition, etc.
My comment is on the 7 year old on diet, I don't understand why people get so upset when a parent is teaching there child to eat healthy, people are more excepting when kids are aloud to eat what ever they want, why? Half of what is out there is not even food, ingredients are put in our food that we use to make gym mats, I am more upset with that ! Take the word "DIET" out of the statement, Healthy eating....
either way the mother would be judged for dieting her child or to let her child be obese..
i applaund her it requires a lot of courage to do so but where was she when the child became overweight?might the kid rebound back after the dieting.
Of course the mother is right. If you couldn't discipline your childern because you were in public we would all be in a sorry mess.
I agree with a lot of others here that I don't have enough info to make a definite decision on whether or not this mom is right. But a couple of things bother me. First, personally I felt that she couldn't even say what she did without looking & SOUNDING uncomfortable when answering the questions. (2) I find it odd that VOUGE approached her 1st and oh, gee! BTW She uses her borderline OBESE 7 yr old to make it a personal experience. (3) If she didn't think calling her young daughter out in front of others for reaching for an extra cookie at a birthday party wasn't embarrassing to her, trust me this kid is going to grow up with MORE then HER MOTHERS weight fears. Of course she was embarrassed! She was just unable to get her mother to see that SHE was more of a problem then her weight. Every time someone questioned her methods she would swing out the Dr.s diagnoses of High blood pressure BUT..Could it be possible that the kids blood pressure was high because she was PETRIFIED of her mothers reaction to her weight? I didn't see the whole interview but I knew & know a few women like her who's intentions were good but their execution of the HELP was worse then the original "problem". I agreed with Kimora (never thought I'd say that!) She should have been more subtle in her LASER SURVEILLANCE. All it takes is 1 nasty kid to overhear her mothers words before the rest of the kids (who can be meaner & crueler then any adult) start calling her names. Trust me, the kid will remember who it started with. I agree a mother SHOULD take care to keep their children healthy but how it's done is JUST as IMPORTANT as WHY it's done. Oh oh oh and btw her comparing her daughters weight to a being a diabetic or having a peanut allergy is pulling twinkies from her ass. At 7 years old (more like 6 when she started the book) it's TOO early to start putting it into her head that she's going to be 300lbs. Finally and to me the most bothersome piece about this is she writes a WHOLE book and puts her kids picture on the cover but no pictures of how BORDER-OBESE she looked like? Why? Because she didn't want to embarrass her?. I think she lost my understanding of that motherly care. At this age it's more how she (the mom) makes sure she serves her fresh healthy food at home even if it's inconvenient for her. Keep only healthy food in the house. Maybe the whole family should adopt a healthy menu for all. I Hope this kid finds the strength to grow healthy in body & mind. I also wish this mother really thinks hard about how & why she's doing it the way she is?
Just saw the show. I'm 100% behind a parent who takes responsibility for her child's behavior and helps that child make good choices. We are so co-dependent in this country and afraid to be parents to our children, who are out of control, entitled and obese. As Dara-Lynn said repeatedly, she's using the word diet to mean lifestyle. She was unfairly attacked and judged on the show. We need more parents like her. More power to her and parents like her.
Why would someone criticize her for doing what is best for her child?
Diets are no fun, but high blood pressure and related issues are dangerous and children need to know that those conditions mean taking immediate action to attain and maintain optimal health.
Clogged arteries led to strokes, high blood pressure and being overweight tend to lead to vascular issues, heart problems, and diabetes which could cause blindness and death.
Seriously, any child with high blood pressure at an early age also needs an eye evaluation.
While I'm not wild about restricting in a harsh way, but keep in mind children tend to prefer sweets and unhealthy foods. It's our responsibilities as parents to teach healthy eating habits and especially correct age and body size food serving sizes starting from day 1.
Overstuffing our children with healthy and unhealthy foods as infants and toddlers will also help create unhealthy ideas of what 'full' is and how much and when they are supposed to eat.
I feel her publicizing this for everyone to see may really be a good thing and should be considered a wake up call to all parents.
That said, my only question is, how does her child feel about it? Is she pretty much okay with the 'World' knowing she has high blood pressure and is overweight, and is she getting support from her friends at school or is being subjected to excessive teasing or bullying?
Kids can be really cruel at that age and school personnel can be equally cruel by not caring enough to intervene and teach that excessive teasing and bullying is unacceptable.
Which starts a vicious cycle of comfort eating for anyone, but especially children.
I am a 51 year old women and have had a weight problem all my life. My mother put me on a diet when I was 6..packing plain tuna and raw veggies for lunch for me and setting my portions. She bought my clothes to small as an "incentive" she said, weighed me before weekend breakfast, sometimes in front of my family and friends to see how many pieces of French Toast I could have and promised loads of new clothes if i would just lose weight.
As I got older i would sneak food after she went to bed, save any money I could to buy candy bars on the sly and in my teens went through Bulemia and Anorexia...I would fast for days on end.
After I was married and had children I maintained a healthy weight most of the time with a few exceptions when I quit smoking! No matter what my size I have never been thin enough for my mother. Size 5? Getting there..size 9? you could be a size 5 again if you tried...size 10 -12 most of my adult life...you shouldn't be eating that..now? I could care less but it took me 45 years to say "F" you mom.
I would beg this mom to just keep lots and lots of healthy food in the house and make exercise and activity a part of every day life..walks, tennis, bicycling, making snowmen, swimming. Putting her daughter on a "diet" tells her she is not good enough the way she is..I know from experience that this is true. I'll be praying for that little girls self esteem.
This mom lacks NO logic. Health is health and there are NO spins to it. The little girl looks amazingly...healthy. Great job Dara-Lynn. The negative comments will come from unhealthy parents/people with unhealthy kids. The dead brains will never understand logig and sound thinking. Positive choices, positive energy. Great health.
I agree 100% with this mother. I don't have obese children, I got children that have a tendency to be iron defecient like me and as their father was. We finally spoke to a blood specialist (Hematologist) and he said that some people tend to be this way all their lives despite of healthy eating and even taking vitimins. We all take vitimins in order to help this out but if we stop taking iron pills daily we will be anemic within a week. So sweets like cookies and cake are not excatly banned from our diet but are only offered on special occasions and within limits. My 15 year old daughter is now able to monitor her sweets when I'm not around on her own, they 11 year old boy still needs some coaching. I too have been criitcized for keeping my children on a minimum of sweets at a party. I prefer that they eat a fruit if they want something sweet rather than empty sweets.
Considering how many obese adults and children are in the United States it's good to see a mother who is putting the effort into teaching her child good eating habits. As long as her kid is getting the daily recommended vitamins/calories/fat/etc for the day NO one should question this mother. Frankly, the world should be more pissed off at the parent who is stuffing their kids with junk food and creating teens who are obese and pre-diabetic. That to me is no different than manslaughter. I think people are too concerned with protecting kids poor little emotions than raising them to deal with the real world. Go ahead and give your 7 year old a smart phone and a candy bar if you disagree!
Good Grief! This mother seems like she's darned if she does...and darned if she doesn't. Everyone will criticize her because she didn't do something, and they do the same if she does.
Seems to me that I don't know enough about this story to know the true situation. What did the daughter look like before the picture that was shown. Here's an interesting fact. The BMI index that so many use (including our government when determining if a person is overweight or obese) is so far off track that it doesn't make sense. Just a couple who our government stated is overweight or fat according to the BMI, Arnold Schwarzenegger is considered obese, Tom Cruise is overweight, Toni Romo is signaficantly overweight. You see, it's not only the modeling and magazine market that's diluting our children, it's our own government.
People need to butt out of others buisness. I do not have kids as of yet but I was fat as a child. Now later in life I have a very physical based job that the better you are at fittness the better you do perform in the job and oppurtunites for moving up the ladder. America is getting fat no ands ifs or buts about it but there are those that are hitting the fitness crazes like Insanity, P90x, Soul Cycling, and Crossfit. Fitness competiotions are now being held to different stanards of functionality as opposed to just astetics. Professional sports are encouraging their big players (football) to drop to a healthy weight. Unless you are a sumo wrestler bigger is never better. Bodies vary but parents need to instill the discipline. Diet is not an evil word by any means and people take it as such now. Question what does your daily diet consist of? This is the term that refers to the way you intake sustinance to survive. Stupidity has deemed it as a short term way to loose weight that usually fails. Truth be told Diet refers to a way of life. Kids are kids they are influenced by what mom and dad uncle, aunt grandparents do. Which means they will go through typical child cycles of please the parent rebel against the parent see what I can get away with. Public humilation is damaging to a childs pysce you should never hit a child. These are myths produced by the theory negative re enforcement doesn't have a possitive effect. There are people in the military today being processed out becuase takening someone who is beligernt out back and beating them up a little or making them do work manually and single them out is demining the same way this child is deemeaned, or "hazed". In reality sometimes it just takes a swift kick in the butt to deal with the problem as a kid if I was told no and continued to press the issue I would be punished a smack to the hand a slap or a spanking. Guess what I learned? Not to ask for something over and over, not until later in life did I understand the it's for your own good theory of perhapse it was too unhealthy, maybe my parents couldn't afford it because bills were due. This country needs to stop being so sensitve. With a surplus of population everyones an expert but no one knows how to act. Be a bystandard or ridicule those who are in the right and praise those who are wrong. It doesn't work that way, your right as an American Citizen is to persue happiness. That doesn't mean not to be undisciplined to so you perfer to be on welfare as opposed to trying to find a job, you are to lazy to cook so eat junkfood every day, or you can't decide what you want in the store so you take them both. It's starts with the discipline instilled with the word NO. This parent is telling her kid no for the right reasons. It's horrible being made fun of because you are fat. It is not fun being out of breath after climbing a set of 4 stairs. The more you get away with it as you are young the more prone you are to impliment your laziness or lack of discipline from such little things as saying no to that extra piece of cake putting down the cookie and picking up a salad, putting down angry birds and reading a higher level thinking book (older books, shakespearian, or books that use the queens english that force a person to think and learn.) She had issues sure the issue doesn't stem from skinny is attractive, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, sometimes some people like skin and bones, some people like a little meat on them others just fit. It is not skinny runway modles that are attractive so get that out of you're head they are meant to be generic pointless figures no better than manquines so that way the focus is on the product they are wearing catching your attention. Healthy is sexy, both in men and women. Being able to go out and play some ball with your children go hiking or a bike ride that is healthy and responsible bonding that builds on discipline of living that carries over into your responisiblities as an adult of, maybe I shouldn't let my contract fall through, maybe I shouldn't go out and drink becuase I only have enough money to make my car payment this month, maybe I don't need that new hot piece of technology because I don't need it and can't actually afford. Discipline in food as a child can lead to discipline in real life.
I choose to change and get fit though I do on occasion stray from my diet (normal way of eating healthy) I continue to live a healthy active life style by running marathons and toughness competions like Tough Mudder and Spartan Race, for the simple fact my parents instilled the discipline to always try to make myself better than I was the day before. Did I gain the weight under their watch, yes but they ate unhealthy foods, just the style of cooking they were used to as kids so they didn't have a concept of fitness and health like we modern Amricans do today.