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Life in the Fat Lane
Author Cherie Bennett Tackles The Tough Subject of Kids and Weight By Donna Smith
Bennett feels the images of thinness thrown at society everyday is debilitating to young girls. "It's hard to accept that girls whose bodies are changing at younger and younger ages are not psychologically able to deal with this onslaught of thinness, but they're not. The result is that girls start to think about dieting when they are 6 or 7 years old because dieting is so much a part of American culture." Bennett says preteen and teenage girls are no more ready to handle these issues than 6 or 7-year-olds. "A preteen or teen girl is not any more ready to deal with the psychology of dieting, and its repercussions, than she is ready to deal with sex at the same age. We wouldn't encourage a 13-year-old to have sex -- why would we ever encourage the same girl to diet? I'm not saying that we ought not encourage girls to be healthy -- you won't find a bigger proponent of girls' sports than me. But encouraging girls to deprive themselves of food? All it does is establish a life-long relationship with food that is very, very messed up."
The idea of a mother encouraging her young daughter to not eat and diet seems almost unreal, but it's not. In the book, Lara has to deal with her mom -- ex-Prom Queen, owner of a successful business, and a 'thin is in' advocate. Being perfect is pushed on Lara daily. She is questioned about what she eats and pushed to diet to rid herself of the pounds. Bennett encourages mothers of young girls to look at how they perceive their own bodies. "We must start by taking a real close look in the mirror," she says. "It doesn't do any good to a girl who is a size 12 for us to say to her, 'Oh sweetie, you're perfect just the way you are,' and then one minute later have her overhear us telling our best friends how disgusted we are that we can't fit into the same clothes we wore last year. Girls are really smart."
