One mother made headlines when she told her 1st grade homework that if she didn’t eat, she could be ‘thin’.
The mother, known as @thisisharlie, posted a TikTok on Tuesday that received over 807,000 views and over 1,200 comments. here.
body image of a child
the study Poor body image and disordered diets are on the rise among young Americans, and elementary school students are dissatisfied with their appearance.
Research shows that by the age of eight, some children already express a desire to be thin and diet. One study of her 776 students aged 11 to 12 found that 3 out of 10 students were dissatisfied with their bodies.
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Less than half of students with an average BMI report being satisfied with their body image, and female students are more likely than male students to feel this way.
Other researchers have found that children exposed to different types of media depicting the value of thinness in dietary culture and society are more likely to develop dissatisfaction with their bodies.
This dissatisfaction can lead to diets and eating disorders with long-term health risks such as malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies.
allocation
On a viral TikTok, Harley shows off her 7-year-old daughter’s homework.
“A friendly reminder to always check your child’s homework,” the caption read. “They may be learning more than you think.”
Harley showed the homework sheet. On this sheet, I asked her to fill in the blank in her sentence with one of her own vocabulary. In one instance, she wrote that the child was “thin” in response to the question, “Joe doesn’t eat much, so he looks very ___.”
The on-screen text read, “It’s 2022, but please refrain,” and Hurley explained to the elementary school students that the sentence was incorrect.
“Eating less food isn’t what makes you thin,” she said, pointing to her homework paper. There is none.”
She then explained to the child that she would leave the statement alone because it was “what the teacher wants,” but that it was not true.
“So what makes you thin?” asked the child.
“Eat healthy food, get plenty of exercise, and a lot of that is honestly just the genetics you were born with,” Hurley replied.
Her daughter replied, “I’m Italian,” adding, “Italians love good food.”
Hurley replied that she shouldn’t have stopped eating to lose weight and that she was “perfect” as it was.
audience reaction
Over 1,200 users commented on Harley’s video, praising her for explaining to young children what happens when many people stop eating.
“You’ve done such a good job of catching this and teaching the truth,” one user commented. “Sadly, many moms don’t even pay attention to their kids’ homework.”
“Italians love good food!!! Great way to deal with this!” another user commented.
“As a teacher, yes this is not good. Kindly let your teacher know,” another commented. “But most teachers don’t make their own homework.”
“You’re doing a great job! We use ‘fuel foods’ and ‘fun foods’ instead of healthy and unhealthy to build a healthy relationship with food.” User commented.
“I have struggled with an eating disorder for 11 years. This is not okay,” wrote another user. “Thank you for having this conversation with her.”
Newsweek @thisisharlie asked for comment.
parents of other viruses
In June, a mother was criticized online after revealing she taught her 12-year-old daughter how to study. count her caloriesMany parents responded that counting calories often increases their risk of eating disorders.
praised by a man reddit after him kicked out my sister His home for incorporating gluten into his gluten-free kitchen was also raved about. order food for his sister I don’t eat anything but Asian food.
