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Mother's Always Right

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Me Time and Mum Time – …

January 27, 2013 by Molly 16 Comments

Hi, I’m Molly. I’m an author, journalist, campaigner and Executive Director of the social enterprise The Body Happy Organisation. Sadly this blog is now essentially defunct as I simply don't have time to write here any more but deleting it felt too much like burning all my old love letters to my kids, so here it still is. If you're interested in me and my work your best bet is to catch me on Instagram where I still post regularly. Thanks for stopping by :) Read More…

INSTAGRAM

Body Happy Pocket Boosters in action! Been a while

Body Happy Pocket Boosters in action! Been a while since I talked about these but we’ve been using them a lot at home lately to combat the January diet culture nonsense that’s so noisy at the moment, and it’s been lovely to see others are using them too (swipe for some examples).
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If you’ve not seen these yet then here are the headlines:
❤️ 30 cards, 8 games and a whole load of other ways to use them
❤️ Interactive affirmations activity card pack to build body image resilience in kids and teens
❤️ Use them to play the suggested games included in the pack, or go rogue and create your own Body Happy art, pop one in your little one’s lunchbox or get them to choose their fave one each day to keep in their pocket for when they need a little boost.
❤️£8.30 to buy from the @bodyhappyorg shop. As a social enterprise, sales of these products help us fund our other projects including some big plans for schools over the next few years 🥳
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Banning pudding from the menu won’t suddenly mak

Banning pudding from the menu won’t suddenly make all kids thin. This isn’t an evidence based policy. It’s a policy steeped in anti-fat bias and a massively over-simplified understanding of health.
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In the absence of any balance in the article itself, let’s remember:
➡️The NHS is currently unable to treat every child as cases of eating disorders in kids soar (NHS Digital data released earlier this month).
➡️Micro-managing kids’ diets is strongly associated with an increase in children’s ED risk and a future of weight cycling which leads to higher weight long term.
➡️Weight stigma is a leading cause of bullying in the playground (which in itself leads to poor health outcomes - many of which are often blamed on the weight itself).
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So, with that in mind, what are some likely outcomes of this policy?
⭐️ Setting kids up for a negative relationship with food, leading to a binge / restrict mentality (demonise pudding and some kids will just want it more, while some will develop a genuine fear of it).
⭐️ Increases in bullying as some kids see this as giving the green light for them to police other kids’ food and bodies.
⭐️ Binary thinking of what constitutes health with a disempowering view of health behaviours and the wider context at play (ie. the idea that health is all within our personal control, if only we eat the “right” food and move our bodies in the “right” way).
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Resources to explore this further: My BHO colleague @themindsetnutritionist IG account & our teaching resources and CPD workshops at @bodyhappyorg.
@sarahdempsternutrition and @thenutritiontea contribution to the food chapter in my book. @v_solesmith brilliant Substack newsletter Burnt Toast. The interview in my video section with @bub.appetit about raising intuitive eaters. @dietitians4teachers IG and workshops. @intuitiveeatingldn online course.
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[ID in comments.]

All 👏 Movement 👏 Is 👏 Valid 👏
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The January diet culture industrial complex tells us to “go hard or go home”, “no pain no gain” and “burn to earn”. It teaches us that movement is a tool to shape our bodies and that those who move their bodies are morally superior to others.
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Diet culture has monumentally ruined our relationship with our bodies, and with movement.
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Sure, some people enjoy sweating it out in the gym, but some don’t. And some can’t. And some like it one week but don’t the next. And some are made to feel massively unwelcome in this type of fitness environment. And some have awful memories of PE as a kid which has tarred their experience with exercise forever.
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Being anti-diet is not the same as being anti-movement. And part of raising kids who have a positive relationship with their bodies is in allowing them to know that all movement is valid, that their bodies are their own to move (or not) as they like, and to give them opportunities to really connect with how their bodies feel when they move them.
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All movement is valid. Football walks kitchen discos bubble parties playing in the park car discos yoga postures dodgeball dancing and on and on and on.
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All. Movement. Is. Valid. But also: you can just… not.
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[Image description: Molly is standing in a field. She wears a big khaki coat, wellies and a woolly hat. She is smiling.]

On Friday I sent out a special issue of Body Happy

My husband is out and my kids are ignoring me on s

My husband is out and my kids are ignoring me on screens, so here begins my dream Friday night: bath, PJs and a lamb curry in front of the new series of Queer Eye which I’ve been saving for just such a moment. Might even push the boat out and go to bed before 10pm with my book.
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23 year old me, who used to spend her Friday nights necking shots of sambucca on sticky dance-floors, didn’t know what she was missing.
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[Image description: Molly is in the bath, laughing.]

Stop the world, I want to get off.
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Started the day running a workshop for 30 brilliant EYFS and KS1 teachers on body image (via @bodyhappyorg). Ended it researching regulations on diet apps for kids and reading about the latest eating disorder stats in children released by the NHS today.
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Sometimes I feel like WTF is the point but the teachers I spoke with this morning reminded me that we CAN make change and we DO have influence to help the kids in our care be friends with their bodies.
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My book is one of many that can help, raising awareness of the issue helps (amplifying posts like this one so others in your feed see the insidiousness of diet culture round kids) and calling this stuff out when we see it also helps.
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P.S. Dear App Store, sort it out. #BodyHappyKids
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