Vogue's Dara-Lynn Weiss didn't earn herself any fans (or parenting awards) for her recent work chronicling her personal struggle to deal with her overweight 7-year-old girl.
Parents and critics alike slammed Weiss for the reprimanding posture she took while discussing her young daughter Bea's attempts to overcome obesity.
Bea's pediatrician pronounced the 7-year-old "medically obese" when she clocked it at 4'4", 93 pounds. Faced with the shaming diagnosis, Weiss decided to drag the girl on a year-long quest to shed the excess weight.
“It is grating to have someone constantly complain of being hungry, or refuse to eat what she’s supposed to, month after month,” writes Weiss in her forthcoming book titled "The Heavy."
"It's exhausting managing someone’s diet," Weiss laments. "Especially when her brother has completely different nutritional needs.”
Little Bea's weight loss quest earned her a set of new dresses after she worked off 16 pounds through twelve months of self-described "hell." The seven year old likes her new clothes, but hates the idea of facing her calorie-obssessed future.
At least Weiss came clean about her own body image issues. She writes: "I have not ingested any food, looked at a restaurant menu, or been sick to the point of vomiting without silently launching a complicated mental algorithm about how it will affect my weight. Who was I to teach a little girl how to maintain a healthy weight and body image?"
Who, indeed, Dara-Lynn. Who, indeed.