I was an overweight child. Therefore, I found the story of Dara-Lynn Weiss and her seven year old daughter compelling.  Ms. Weiss put her seven year old overweight daughter on a strict diet  for health related reasons; the child had high blood pressure. Interestingly, the internet has exploded with blogs and articles condemning Ms. Weiss and her methods.

A majority  of the criticism against Ms. Weiss has been levied at her choice of magazine to tell her story, Vogue. The critics have opined that her move to put her story on the pages of Vogue seemed contradictory, since high fashion magazines are covered with rail-thin supermodels. Thus, if her story was truly about weight and health, Vogue was criticized as not the appropriate forum to deliver this message.

Even more than her choice of Vogue, Ms. Weiss has been criticized for her methods.  She admits to publically  embarrassing and humiliating her daughter when she made the wrong food choices. She also admits to depriving her daughter of dinner after the child had an eight hundred calorie feast at school celebrating French Heritage Day.

Ms. Weiss’ explanation for her extreme actions is that, as a parent, she has the right and obligation to monitor her child’s health and, therefore, food choices. She has analogized her child’s condition to that of a diabetic child and has suggested that the parent of a diabetic child would not have received the type of criticism she has in limiting her child’s food choices.

What do you think Gotham?  Are this mother’s actions too extreme?  Or, is she doing what she must to keep her daughter healthy?