Amy Cheney is an Australian mother (and writer) who published an entry in Mama Mia earlier this month to explain to her readers how she felt when she discovered that his seven-year-old daughter had begun to make a fairly restrictive diet.
Apparently a classmate had shared the recommendations she put into practice through an adapted regime, which was supervised by her mother. Probably Amy's daughter had already begun with her plan, judging by the marks that appear to the right of each pattern. In the little list the girl had made only fruits, yogurt, water appeared... and notes on physical exercise. From the point of view of biology, Diet is the set of substances that are ingested to feed the bodyHowever, in childhood it is especially important that this (diet) be healthy and balanced, in order to ensure proper growth and the supply of nutrients that the body needs ...
The pretense of the little girl could have been to maintain or decrease her weight by eating fruits and exercising enough. I have read a comment to the original article pointing out that it is not necessary to worry because fruits are healthy, and physical exercise is necessary. However, everything points to an obsession with physical perfection (and the elderly should know that this is never really achieved, because it responds to interests outside the person).
Amy Cheney's daughter's dietIt is not an isolated case (at least in my opinion) because it has not been more than two months since a mother of a second-year primary school student told me that her daughter returned the snack snack saying 'I don't want to eat anymore to not be fat', and I wasn't the only one in the class who showed an attitude like that. It goes without saying that it is a small girl without any problem of overweight, ... my daughter is only one year younger, imagine how my body stayed!
By reading 'Help: my daughter is seven. And I found this in her room '(Help! I found this in my seven-year-old daughter's room), Amy shows herself as a mother hurt with the canons of beauty circulating in society, and worried because - a even though he has already talked with the girl about the matter - he is aware that can be repeated.
A seven-year-old girl should not do any restrictive diet (unless a doctor advises her motivated by some kind of medical problem or illness in the patient). In no case should it seem 'normal', much less natural, that in the relations between equals at those ages, this type of concepts that soils the minds of children appear, and predispose them to be vulnerable towards unhealthy tendencies.
As Luis Ruiz indicates in the epilogue of 'I am made a ball', the problems due to malnutrition due to excess (obesity) and defect (eating disorders) have grown. The task of educating seems increasingly complex, but it will be easier if parents are clear about our role in guiding and accompanying children to healthy adulthood, otherwise, it is very likely that we will find more and more pre-adolescent children suffer from these disorders
Healthy eating, reduction of empty calories in the diet (such as sugary drinks), and physical activity, are pillars to counteract the risk of getting present and future diseases due to an unhealthy diet. Although from the emotional point of view, we can do a lot, teaching our children to want their own body and take care of it in every way.
Images | Bruce Tuten, Amy Cheney Source | Mama Mia In Peques and More | Guidelines to prevent eating disorders in children and adolescents at home, would you buy beauty products to make your child more handsome?
