Good parent=bad parent

In the eating disorder world parents are told: "It is especially important that you don't diet. Ever." You will be looked at with sad knowingness if you thought dieting was okay and even worse if you allowed your own child to diet. You are not supposed to refer to foods as good or bad. You must not focus on BMI.

And, it turns out the eating disorder world is right about all this.

But in the rest of the world you, as a parent, will be praised for dieting. You will be chided for letting yourself go. You will be advised to keep bad foods out of your child's life and you are supposed to care deeply about childhood obesity and will be expected to restrict your child's diet if your growing child grows too much. You must focus on BMI.

Parents are doing exactly what their pediatricians and society are telling them is good parenting. Once your child gets an eating disorder they ask why you bought into all that. But who needs the scolding: a parent in crisis or the Surgeon General??