Dads, Daughters And Diets: Obama's Mistake

As Michelle Obama launches her campaign against childhood obesity, the first attack may be against her own girls.

By Sandy Maple

A few days ago, my 9-year-old commented on how her brand new jeans were feeling kind of tight. When I told her that she was probably going through yet another growth spurt, she got quiet. After a long pause, she told me that her papa had suggested that perhaps she shouldn't eat so much.

I know for a fact that what he really told her was that she shouldn't eat so much candy, and that it was her teeth he was concerned about, not her weight. But as I told him later that evening, it doesn't really matter what he said, it's what she heard that counts. And she heard that she eats too much.

Her reaction didn't surprise me one bit. I still vividly recall when I was about her age and my own father casually mentioned that I was getting a little chubby. He said it gently and with a smile on his face, but I was devastated. Already insecure about the way my body was shaping up, his words whittled away at my already weakening self-esteem.

The last thing a young girl wants to believe is that the most important man in her life finds her somehow less than perfect. Which is why I cringed when I read where President Barack Obama referred to his own daughter Malia as "chubby." How did she feel to realize that the most important man in her life found fault with her appearance and then told the whole world about it?

Keep reading to find out how the Obama's campaign against childhood obesity might backfire.

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