Podcast appearances and mentions of molly forbes

This week on Should I Delete That, we're investigating the ‘Almond Mom' phenomenon. This is our conversation with the brilliant Molly Forbes - she is an author, campaigner, and the founder of The Body Happy Organisation. Our chat with Molly is full of incredible practical advice and insight into how we can build positive body image for both ourselves and our children. We also spoke to Molly about how it's not just mums who play a role in building up our body image - and why perhaps we shouldn't be placing all the pressure on mothers… You can find The Body Happy Organisation's free resources here: https://www.bodyhappyorg.com/start-here Molly's books Every Body and Body Happy Kids are available now - get your copies here!Follow @mollyjforbes on InstagramFollow @bodyhappyorg on Instagram If you would like to get in touch - you can email us on shouldideletethat@gmail.com Follow us on Instagram:@shouldideletethat@em_clarkson@alexlight_ldnShould I Delete That is produced by Faye LawrenceMusic: Dex RoyStudio Manager: Dex RoyTrailers: Sophie RichardsonVideo Editor: Celia GomezSocial Media Manager: Emma-Kirsty Fraser Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A term made famous by Yolanda Hadid, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star and mother to supermodels Bella and Gigi Hadid, “Almond Mom” refers to the type of mother who sets their child up to be obsessed with food and their bodies in ways that are both toxic and harmful.In this, the second episode of our Body Image series, we explore generational trauma in the context of diet culture, and take a deeper look at the wounds passed down from our grandmothers, to our mothers and in turn - to us. Many millennials feel very passionately that they want to be the ones to break this cycle, that we don't want our kids to watch us starting a new diet every Monday, or never wearing a swimming costume or eating a biscuit without first apologising for it, and as relatively new mothers ourselves, this is something we feel deeply passionate about.Thanks so much to our amazing guests who feature on this episode: Phillippa Diedrichs, Molly Forbes, Beth and Bev. Molly's books Every Body and Body Happy Kids are available now - get your copies here!You can find The Body Happy Organisation's free resources here: https://www.bodyhappyorg.com/start-here Read more about Phillippa's work at https://www.phillippadiedrichs.com/ Follow @mollyjforbes on Instagram Follow @bodyhappyorg on Instagram Follow @phillippa.diedrichs on Instagram If you would like to get in touch - you can email us on shouldideletethat@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us a textWhat a joy to have Molly Forbes on the pod!Molly Forbes is an author, campaigner, and journalist. Her first book, Body Happy Kids (for adults), was published by Vermilion in 2021, followed by Every Body (for readers 9+) in 2024, which won Highly Commended in the Health & Wellbeing category of the Teach Primary Awards. That same year, Molly was named one of the winners of The Fair Education Alliance Innovation Awards, supporting the development of the Body Happy Schools programme. An experienced broadcaster and public speaker, Molly has appeared on BBC Breakfast, Woman's Hour, This Morning, Radio 1's Newsbeat, Channel 4's Steph's Packed Lunch, and Heart Breakfast, discussing children's body image, mental health, and parenting. As the founder and Executive Director of Body Happy Org, she oversees operations and strategic direction. Molly is also an active workshop facilitator, delivering sessions in schools and corporate training for brands promoting positive body esteem.In our conversation we talked about Molly's passion for making body image more than just a topic in PSHE (Personal Social Health Education) lessons and how if body image gets neglected as a key ingredient to children's well-being, the repercussions can be immense. We hope you find the episode inspiring to find out more about Molly's work and that it helps you to call out weight stigma, body shaming and inappropriate teaching tools at your child's school (or at your place of work, in particular if you work with children and young people!) Please reach out if you would like some support with your relationship to food OR movement. Ela currently has limited spaces for Intuitive Eating coaching and if you'd like to reconnect with movement, contact Christine.AND if you enjoyed this episode, please share and follow the 'Find Your Strong podcast' and if you have time, write us a short review. It would honestly mean the world. Love to you all, Ela & Christine x

Host Danusia Malina-Derben gets real with Molly Forbes, author of “Body Happy Kids: How to raise children who love the skin they're in” for adults and “Every Body” for children. They're talking about one thing every parent worries about—how to raise kids who love their bodies in a world obsessed with diet culture. Spoiler: It's not about looking “pretty.”   Molly dishes out her no-BS take on raising confident kids, from smashing beauty ideals to using her household mantra “It's not my job to be pretty.” You'll learn how to dodge diet culture's sneaky traps and arm your kids with the self-love they need to stay strong. Oh, and Molly even has a genius idea involving compliment circles that you'll definitely want to steal for your next family hangout.   This episode? Pure fire for anyone ready to raise resilient, body-happy kids.   Discover more from us: • Follow PWT on Substack • Follow us on Instagram • Connect with Danusia • Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts • Advertising Inquiries here   Credits: • Hosted by Danusia Malina-Derben • Edited, Mixed + Mastered by Marie Kruz • Cover art by Anthony Oram

Bex got chatting with Molly Forbes about Every Body a beautifully illustrated guide teaching you that everybody is different and we should celebrate our glorious differences.  Remember to tune in to Bex on the Book Worms Podcast every other Wednesday via the Fun Kids AppSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the latest episode of Book Worms! To kick things off Bex chatted to Kate Pankhurst about Fantastically Great Women: Sport Stars and their Stories as she tells the fascinating stories of some of history's most talented female sports stars. From football superstars to trailblazing Olympians, women throughout history have fought for the right to take part, win or lose, in sports across the globe Bex also speaks to Molly Forbes about Every Body a beautifully illustrated guide teaching you that everybody is different and we should celebrate our glorious differences.That's all on this week's episode of Fun Kids Book WormsJoin Fun Kids Podcasts+: https://funkidslive.com/plusSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Weaning is a huge milestone for babies as they move from a liquid, milk diet to eating solid foods. We know that breast and formula milk contain everything baby needs to grow and thrive, but when that milk consumption drops and food takes over, what nutrients do children or little ones need and how can we make sure that they're going to get enough of them?Today we chat with Aliya Porter, a Registered Nutritionist and a mum of three who runs Porter Nutrition and Weaning Centre. We discuss how to give your baby the best nutritional start and also how to help create lifelong good habits when it comes to diet and nutrition.If you are about to start weaning or you are already there, you will find this conversation incredibly helpful and reassuring. Porter Nutrition and Weaning Centre and offers you the opportunity to have support to eat healthily around your busy schedule and on a budget that suits you. Check out all the resources and services on offer at Porter Nutrition (for over 5s and adults) here and for everything relating to weaning and under 5s, check out Aliya's Weaning Centre website hereConnect with Aliya here on Facebook or here on InstagramBuy Aliya's e-book ‘Weaning on a Budget' Here are links to some of the articles and resources discussed in today's episode: Free resources for nutrition in Pregnancy  How to Introduce Allergens to Babies 100 First Foods Creating a Positive Mealtime (reducing the pressure) First Foods Weaning course Foods Babies Should Avoid   Listen to Molly Forbes podcast on Childrens' Body ImageMini First Aid is an award-winning, Dragons' Den winning business bringing vital first aid training to parents, carers and workers across the UK. You can find out more about our wide range of first aid classes and courses here Mini First Aid first aid kits are designed to meet all your family's first aid needs. With a range of sizes available, you can keep our kits at home and take them out and about with you on day trips with your little ones. Browse our full range of kits hereSeries 3 of the Family Health Podcast by Mini First Aid is sponsored by Savlon Scar Prevention Gel. Savlon has been trusted by the nation for generations and can help the whole family with the range of products available.  Savlon Scar Prevention Gel helps soothe pain, promote faster healing, and reduce the likelihood of scarring.  

In today's digital society, children are bombarded with images of supposed perfection. According to recent statistics from the NHS, the struggle with body image and food among young people has surged alarmingly in recent years, with children as young as six years old being diagnosed with an eating disorder.Behind these numbers lie stories of silent battles, where young minds grapple with complex emotions and societal pressures that often remain unseen and misunderstood.In today's episode of the Family Health Podcast, we chat with Olivia, a body image coach and Pernille, Founder and CEO of MindBlossom about eating disorders. This episode comes with a gentle warning that both Olivia and Pernille share their own personal struggles with eating disorders as well as talking to us more generally about what might be going on in a young person's mind that might drive them towards an eating disorder and those sometimes subtle signs that your child might be struggling.Olivia Bowden is Founder of Body Image Coach, supporting eating disorders and BDD in schools, click here to find out more about her work. Olivia's A-Z online free self help platform Dear Heart Column can be accessed here if you need support with general life difficulties. Find Olivia's self-help books here at Front Door Publishing Connect with Pernille here on LinkedInPernille's company Mind Blossom which strives to prevent and combat mental illness through mental health education and fostering community support. Find out more hereLearn more about Pernille and her professional services here on her website.If you would like to learn more about Pernille's research click here and about her scholarly publications here.For more information about the different types of eating disorders and links to useful resources, check out the NHS information page.See all the resources at Beat Eating Disorders charity A full guide to CAMHS services can be found at Young Minds mental health support organisation.Listen to Molly Forbes podcast on Childrens' Body ImageMini First Aid is an award-winning, Dragons' Den winning business bringing vital first aid training to parents, carers and workers across the UK. You can find out more about our wide range of first aid classes and courses here Mini First Aid first aid kits are designed to meet all your family's first aid needs. With a range of sizes available, you can keep our kits at home and take them o

In this week's episode, Han is joined by Molly Forbes. Molly is an author, campaigner and journalist, and the executive director and founder of the Body Happy Organisation. The Body Happy Organisation aims to help adults help the children in their care be friends with their bodies by creating environments that allow the body image of children and young people to thrive. Molly has written two books about body image, provides workshops to schools with educators and children and holds corporate training sessions for brands invested in creating a culture of positive body esteem.This week, we discuss:Molly's motivation behind starting the Body Happy Organisation. How to converse with a child about body diversity, as a caregiver or a teacher.The messaging pushed on boys and girls in children's media to align with gender stereotypes.The importance of body image discussions with teachers and how this supports engaging conversations in the classroom.Why celebrating body diversity supports self-esteem and encourages children to appreciate their bodies, enjoy sports and engage in health-promoting behaviours.How to remove the common barriers that may cause children to withdraw from sport, and increase body diversity to ensure all children feel represented and included to engage in sport. An exclusive look at Molly's new book, Every Body, which you can find here. You can find out more about Molly and the Body Happy Organisation by visiting their Instagrams at @bodyhappyorg and @mollyjforbes or visiting the Body Happy Organisation website.You can also find Molly's books and other fun body image resources in the Body Happy Organisation shop.Kindly note, that this episode delves into sensitive eating disorder topics. Remember to take care of yourself while listening, and always seek professional help if needed. This podcast is your bridge to insightful discussions, not a substitute for clinical guidance.

Show Notes: A 2015 survey showed that nearly a quarter of childcare professionals have seen signs that children aged between 3 and 5 years old, in their care, are unhappy with their appearance or bodies. This is just one of the staggering and upsetting statistics that we hear about in this episode of the Family Health Podcast with Molly Forbes of Body Happy Org.Why do our children feel this way, what can we do to support them, how can we drive change in our schools, institutions and society? Big questions for which Molly has some fantastic answers and advice.Everyone needs to hear this conversation. This isn't just a topic for parents or carers, this is an issue that we must all take responsibility for.Listen now and learn what you can do to support and empower children and young people - this episode is too important to miss.References:Learn more about the work of The Body Happy OrgConnect with Molly on InstagramBuy Molly's book: Body, Happy Kids PACEY 2015 surveyWomen and Equalities Committee Body Image Survey Results (2020)Find out more about the National Child Measurement Programme 2023Mini First Aid Family First Aid Kit - Platinum Award winning first aid kit, voted a Best Buy in the Loved By Parents Awards 2021, is a comprehensive first aid kit for all the family. Containing 115 essential items, it is ideal for keeping in your car or at home for any first aid emergencies.Find out more about our multi award winning two hour Baby & Child first aid classes here, delivered in a relaxed and comfortable style to give you the confidence to know what actions to take if faced with a medical emergency.For press enquiries and to contact Mini First Aid, email info@minifirstaid.co.ukThe Mini First Aid Family Health podcast is sponsored by Unity Mutual, a trusted partner for your savings and investments. Unity Mutual understands your commitment to your child's health and financial future. When you choose Unity Mutual for a Junior Individual Savings Account, you secure your child's savings journey and receive a free paediatric first aid class. It's not just about caring for their health; it's also about setting them up for a brighter future. Unity Mutual believes in enriching lives beyond pounds and pence, empowering you with both financial stability and life-enhancing opportunities.

Everyone has an ABBA story. Like A Magic Spell is a song-by-song podcast which unlocks and shares the sheer joy of ABBA.In this episode, Adrian and author, podcaster and mum Molly Forbes dig into LAY ALL YOUR LOVE ON ME and THE WAY OLD FRIENDS DO (LIVE). As well as discussing the music, they ramble into all sorts of areas including unrequited love, comparing ABBA songs to aerobic workouts, and having to Google things to understand what children these days are on about. With a guest appearance from Molly's nine year-old, Effie!LAY ALL YOUR LOVE ON ME (official lyric video)LAY ALL YOUR LOVE ON ME (BenFlo harmonies version)THE WAY OLD FRIENDS DO (LIVE) (audio-only video from ABBA YouTube channel)The Way Old Friends Do (website of Ian Hallard's play)The Body Happy Organisation (Molly's website)A*Teens medley from Melodifestivalen, Saturday 3 FebruaryInstagram: likeamagicspellEmail: likeamagicspell@gmail.comProduced and hosted by Adrian StirrupMusic by Ian Jones

In today's episode, I'm speaking to writer and parent educator Eloise Rickman. Eloise's work focuses mainly on challenging adultism, championing children's rights, and helping parents and educators rethink how they see children. In this episode, we touch on how diet culture shows up in gentle parenting spaces and how mainstream ideas of gentle parenting don't always challenge where power comes from and how it's leveraged. We'll also talk about kids' embodied resistance and Elosie's new book, It's Not Fair.Don't forget to leave a review in your podcast player if you enjoy this episode - or let me know what you think in the comments below.Find out more about Eloise's work here.Pre-order Eloise's new book here.Follow her on Instagram here.Follow here on Substack - Follow Laura on Instagram here.Subscribe to Laura's newsletter here.Enrol in the Raising Embodied Eaters course here. Here's the transcript in full:INTRO:Laura: Hey and welcome to the Can I Have Another Snack? podcast where we talk about appetite, bodies and identity, especially through the lens of parenting. I'm Laura Thomas, I'm an anti-diet registered nutritionist and I also write the Can I Have Another Snack? Newsletter.Today we're talking to . Eloise is a writer ( ) and parent educator. Her work focuses on challenging adultism, championing children's rights, and helping parents and educators rethink how they see children. Today we're going to talk about how diet culture shows up in gentle parenting spaces and how mainstream ideas of gentle parenting don't always challenge where power comes from and how it's leveraged. We'll also talk about kids' embodied resistance and Elosie's new book, It's Not Fair.But first - just a quick reminder that Can I Have Another Snack is entirely reader and listener supported. If you get something from the newsletter or podcast, please consider a paid subscription - it's £5/month or £50/ year which helps cover the cost of the podcast,  gives you access to our weekly subscriber only discussion threads, the monthly Dear Laura column, and the entire CIHAS archive. Head to laurathomas.substack.com to subscribe now. And thank you to everyone who is already a paid subscriber.Alright team, here's this week's conversation with Eloise Rickman. MAIN EPISODE:Laura: Alright Eloise, can you start by telling us a bit about you and your work?Eloise: Yeah, of course. And whenever I do these, I'm always absolutely terrified, that I'm gonna forget something really big , like “I'm a writer” or “I work with parents”. So yeah, I'm a writer and I work with parents. I write books about children and about children's rights.And I've just finished writing my second book, which is on the idea of children's liberation. which looks at all different sorts of topics from parenting to education to children's bodies. And alongside my writing work, I also work with parents running courses on home education and on rights-based parenting and on workshops as well.I'm also – at the same time as doing this – home educating my daughter, who at the time of recording is eight, which also kind of feels like a full time job and just because life is not complicated enough, I'm also doing a Masters in children's rights at the moment, which is brilliant.Laura: Okay, I have no idea how you find the time in the day to do all of those different things, but I am in awe. And you mentioned that you just finished writing your second book, but you didn't say what it's called.Eloise: Sorry, I didn't, you're right! So it's called It's Not Fair. Which is a title we deliberated over for a really long time, but I really like it because it's something which we hear so often from our children's mouths.It's not fair, this isn't fair. So it's called It's Not Fair: Why it's Time for a Grown Up Conversation About How Adults Treat Children. And that really does sum it up. It's really looking at how we treat children in all different aspects of life. And why a lot of that treatment isn't fair and why we need to rethink it as adults who have more power than children.Laura: Yeah, and I mean, that's really what I want us..we're going to explore these ideas a little bit in a second. But yeah, I've had a little sneaky peek of the book so far. And what I read is incredible. And I'm so excited for this book to be in people's hands because – we'll talk about this a bit more as well – but unlike a lot of just, you know, gentle parenting, like, more prescriptive books, I think that just tell you how to parent, what I really appreciate about your work is that you bring in the kind of socio-political lens, which I feel often gets missed out of a lot of these conversations. So, yeah, I'm really excited about your book coming out and we'll pop a pre-order link to it in the show notes so that people can have that little happy surprise delivered to their doorstep. There's nothing better than, just like, a book showing up that you've forgotten…  Eloise: Oh, I love it. Laura: …that you ordered six months ago! Okay. A lot of your work centers on the idea of dismantling adultism. I'm not sure that people will be completely familiar with that term, so for anyone who is just coming across it, can you explain what even is that and where do we see it show up in our kids' lives?Eloise: Absolutely, and I think you're totally right that it's not a term that most of us are familiar with at all, and I think that's a huge problem actually.You know, we are now, I think, generally, as a society, getting better at spotting things like sexism or racism or ableism, and that is really important, you know, being able to name injustice when you see it is the first step to dismantling it, to tackling it. Otherwise, how do you really know what it is that you're dealing with and why it's a problem?But yet, when we think about some of the treatment which children experience at the hands of adults, whether that's the fact that in England, at the time of recording, it's still legal to hit your child, even though we would never dream of women being allowed to be hit by their partners, or the fact that, you know, it's still really normal in so many school settings for children to be publicly humiliated, to be losing their break times and so on.All of these seem to be quite disconnected from one another because we don't have the language to join them up. And I think that's why having a word like adultism is the first step in kind of joining those dots and being able to see that children as a social group are marginalised and discriminated against vis-à-vis adults.And I think that term probably feels quite uncomfortable for a lot of us, especially if our children are relatively privileged. You know, if you have a wealthy white child who is not disabled, the idea that your child is discriminated against or is somehow marginalised might feel really shocking. Like, whoa, what do you mean?You know, our child is so lucky, but again, as we've seen with times, like with racism, we talk about white supremacy. The idea isn't that if you have white privilege, you don't have any other problems. You know, you can still be poor or disabled and still have white privilege. And I think in the same way we can see that adults have it easier in a lot of different aspects of their lives.And that doesn't mean being a child is always terrible. It just means they're discriminated against because they're children. So the idea of adultism is really just a way of referencing this age based discrimination, which children face. And I think it really encapsulates this idea that in so many of our societies, adults are seen as the kind of default position, and they are seen as more competent, more capable, more rational, more sensible than children are. And there's a wonderful academic called Manfred Liebel, who talks about these four conditions of adultism. And one of them is that children are just seen as less capable, less competent, less rational, and that they're seen as sort of unfinished. So there's this idea that you're not really a proper person until you become an adult. And that justifies a lot of adult control.Laura: Yeah. Sorry. I was just going to say, there's like this sense that, okay, well, you don't really know what you're talking about. You don't really have any kind of, like, say in what's going on until you turn 18.And, and it's almost like this idea that, yeah, your life is..it doesn't matter, anything that happens to you before 18. It's kind of like a write off somehow. Yeah. Anyway, that was just what was coming to my mind. And I'm sorry for interrupting you. I'm curious to hear more about these conditions of adultism!Eloise: Yeah, but I think that absolutely is true. And that's a really big part of it or where we don't see children's lives as important or their experience as important. And I think we're getting better now as a society at noticing when things are traumatic or when things are adverse childhood experiences, but often those are described in terms of: this has an impact when they become adults.So they have poorer earning potential or it harms their future intimate relationships, but it's not…so much of it is not focused on children's lives in the here and now, and under adultism, it's very frequent, I think, whether it's in policy documents or whether it's in the language that schools use, or whether it's in parenting manuals, this idea that childhood is this sort of preparation or training ground for when you're a real person, for when you're an adult, and that parenting, education, all of these different things, thus, should be you know, optimising the child's future life without really thinking very much about children's experiences right now. So, and some other examples of adultism as well are, that tied to this, we often think that because parents know best, parents can protect their children from things that we see as harmful. And I think this probably links quite a lot also to diet culture and the way that we see that, you know, oh, I must protect my child from ultra processed food or from sweets because I know best, but actually these things can end up being quite harmful to children because they're not given the opportunity to take risks or make mistakes or to figure out their own body's needs, decide what's best for themselves. And I think there is this real assumption that adults know best and that if a child makes a decision, which is against what adults believe is best, then the child must not be capable of making that decision yet. They must be incompetent. So even if we're saying to a child, okay, you choose. And then the child says, well, I'm going to eat all of my Hallowe'en sweets in one go, or I'm going to eat all of the, you know, chocolates out of my Christmas stocking in one go. And then the adult says, well, actually that shows they can't be trusted. And next time we'll have to, you know, divvy them out or give them more slowly. And I think that sense that children cannot make good decisions if they vary from what we as adults believe are good decisions, also have a wider consequence in that children are really excluded from political decision making.And I think this is twofold, both in terms of the fact that children can't vote, which as you're listening to this, you might think, ‘well, of course children can't vote, you know, why would they be able to vote? They're only children.' But yet, this is exactly the kind of argument which used to be made for women not being able to vote.And actually, over the course of history, we've seen huge changes in which populations were seen to be considered sort of capable and sound of mind and able to take part in the very scary business of voting and putting a cross in a box. And again, there are lots of people now challenging this, but I think just the very fact that we have a whole section of society who we say ‘you don't have a voice' is really important to grapple with.I think there could be an argument made for this if our politicians were genuinely taking children's voices, views, concerns into account. But as we've seen with things like education funding, childcare funding, the complete lack of any sort of meaningful action on the climate crisis, children's priorities and futures aren't being safeguarded by those in power. And we tend to have very short termist political structures. Which again, exacerbates this sort of, you know, serving adult populations, but actually the things that children need, the things that are important to children get completely left out of the conversation.Laura: Yeah. Oh, I mean, I don't even really know where, where to kind of go from there. I think you've just…Eloise: Sorry, it's a lot!Laura: It is, it's a lot. And you summed it up. And I think, like, what I kept thinking about as you were speaking is, I think, there is this, like, notion or fantasy that we're not living in Victorian workhouse era, kind of, you know, we're not putting kids into workhouses anymore.And there's this sort of sense that, like, childhood is held in such high esteem, such high regard, like…But what you're saying is there's a real disconnect, right, between this kind of, like, fantasy of childhood versus the reality of how we're treating our children. Do you know what I mean?Eloise: Absolutely. Yeah, totally. And I think that's exactly right.And I think, again, to a lot of people, it will seem strange to talk about children being discriminated against because we're spending, you know, hundreds of pounds on Christmas presents for the children in our families or because we are seeing that children now have access to all these cool opportunities that we didn't when we were their age. And we tend to think that childhood is generally getting better. And in some ways it is, you know, in terms of things like corporal punishment, we are actually getting better as a society. Fewer children are being smacked. It's becoming less normalised, but there is still this real disconnect between the fact that children are…in some circumstances have better material goods, except we're definitely not seeing that for everyone. And actually, you know, as we know in the UK, one in three children more or less lives in poverty, which is a huge political issue in terms of adultism, actually. And it is a real…it's a political choice rather than just a side effect.And, you know, we might not need to get into it now, but there have been lots and lots of policy decisions over the last decade or so, which have pushed families deeper and deeper into poverty. But even for those of us living in very privileged households, we might see, oh yes, well, my child now has an iPad or my child has this, that or the other.But actually in terms of the things that really matter to children, having a safe, healthy environment, having the freedom to be able to go out and see their friends without being overly controlled, having privacy, having independence. We're not really doing much better on any of those sort of key indicators, really. And that power discrepancy. And I think that power is probably the main word in all of this, that adults still have the say, adults still have a final decision. Adults still have more power in our families…hasn't changed since those times. And I think that's what we're really needing to grapple with now.Laura: And I think that that is shifting a little bit in terms of kind of the explosion of gentle parenting, which I think is a concept that probably most of the listeners are familiar with. But just for anyone who isn't, do you think that you could maybe just, like, give your…because I know there's no, like, one set definition of gentle or respectful parenting, but can you tell us a bit about what that concept means to you?Eloise: Yeah, of course. So I think the way that gentle parenting, in a kind of mainstream definition of books like…well, I'm not going to name a lot, but you know, any kind of gentle parenting book you might walk into Waterstones and pick up off the shelf will tend to be much more child focused than, you know, Gina Ford type parenting books.So it will focus on, you know, how is your child feeling, validating their emotions, listening to them, not making them feel bad for crying or for having strong feelings, for trying to work together with them to fix problems rather than just doling out punishments, you know, not putting children in timeouts, really listening to them, having a very warm, nurturing relationship with children.It doesn't necessarily have to go into attachment parenting, but I think there is a sense in gentle parenting that the real aim is trying to have this loving relationship with your child, where they feel heard, they feel listened to, they feel seen. For me, that feels like such a positive move forward collectively as a society.I know that my mum for example feels that she might have parented in a different way had she had more options around at the time. I'm sure my grandparents would have also parented in a very different way if they had had access to some of these ideas. So I think as a society we're definitely moving in the right way.I think the piece for me that feels still sort of missing from gentle parenting, is a lot of it still doesn't question this fundamental aspect of child-parent relationships, which is that it is a fundamentally unequal power dynamic. So what traditional gentle parenting will do, I don't know if you or anyone listening has heard of this idea of these different sort of parenting styles from someone called Diana Baumrind, who talked about. On the one hand you have the authoritarian parenting. She's very strict, very cold, has very high expectations of children's behaviour. On the other side, she talked about permissive parenting. Which is very warm, but has very low expectations of children. So, you know, you might imagine a kind of warm chaos where the kids are kind of running around doing whatever.Laura: Right. There's no, there are very few boundaries. It's a bit more of a…Eloise: Very few boundaries.Laura: Free for all.Eloise: Free for all. It's chaos. Yeah. Kids are in charge kind of idea. Then she posited for actually the middle ground, which I think is what a lot of gentle parenting writers will refer to, is that in the middle you have what she kind of called authoritative parenting, which is both very warm, seeks to understand the child, seeks to not have too many rules, but yet still has those expectations in terms of behaviour.So, you know, you're going to step in if you see your child drawing on the walls or going to hit their sibling, you know, you're going to have expectations, for example, of how dinner times might be held or how you greet other people. And I think this is where a lot of gentle parenting books sit, in this idea that you have power as a parent, but you use it benevolently to try and do your best for your child.And I have a lot of sympathy for that. You know, I think as parents we're under so much pressure to do well, to do right, especially when we're told from so much developmental psychology, but the impact of these early years on children is so important and it's going to ruin your child's life. But I think for me, what feels like perhaps the next step, and I think we're already starting to see more and more conversations doing this, is being able to step outside of that sort of traditional view that you're either very authoritarian or permissive or you're kind of somewhere in between and remove ourselves from that entirely and say, well, what about the power dynamics?What if parents weren't the ones in charge, but actually we were in partnership with children, making decisions collectively and aiming for respectful relationships just as we would do in our romantic partnerships, in our friendships, in our work relationships of just being humans in the world, trying to figure out how to get along together in as respectful a way as possible.And obviously this is much, much easier said than done. I am absolutely not doing this all the time in my own parenting, let's be really clear. But for me, that feels like the conversation we need to be having more of. And alongside that, it needs to be not just looking at the parent child relationship.Which I think again, a lot of traditional parenting books will do, but really trying to understand that your parenting is impacted by so many things. You know, we live in a capitalist society and the fact that so much of our society is based on getting parents away from their children, separating families out, trying to put children into often very underfunded childcare systems, school systems, making it almost impossible for parents to be relaxed when they're having to work sometimes two, three jobs where they're dealing with poverty, where they're worried about the climate crisis, you know, these things don't happen in a vacuum. And I think it is completely unrealistic to be talking about having this beautiful, you know, egalitarian, no power differentiation relationship with our children, when we're not also trying to dismantle the many, many, many structural issues which are keeping us stressed and exhausted and, you know, kind of triggered by our children as well.Laura: Yeah. As I was preparing to speak to you, I was thinking about a couple of New York Times articles that came out, I think it was last year, that really pushed back on gentle parenting.And then I also saw something in Romper yesterday that was like, you know, here are 10 reasons why gentle parenting doesn't work for my family. And to me, I have a lot of, like, sympathy for parents who are trying out these tools, these ideas, these suggestions, which, you know, may or may not be helpful for them. But, you know, like maybe they buy into the idea sort of cognitively and emotionally, but then when they, when they put it into practice, like it all kind of falls apart for them. And it seems like with those NYT articles and, and with the Romper piece, it really was just missing the lens of like all the systemic and social stuff that we're kind of dealing with that makes it so much more difficult to have a kind of equal distribution of power in those relationships and and not, not sort of a certain power over but but you know giving power to our children to have some autonomy to have some say in their their day and over their bodies and what they want to do it all just feels so impossible when we have yeah like capitalism breathing down our neck, colonialism breathing down our neck, racism, ableism, anti-fat bias, like all of these systems that are, are making our lives so much more difficult.They have an impact on gentle parenting or our ability to parent, but it's not, it's not the, the gentle parenting in and of itself. That's the problem, right? It's all the other shit that we're dealing with.Eloise: Absolutely. Yeah. And like you say, I think there is a fundamental sometimes misread of gentle parenting, but it's just another tool. You know, you do this because you want your child to be more empathetic to their peers, or because you want them to learn more moderation in the long run, or because you want them to be able to self regulate their emotions. And some children absolutely will do all of those things. So there's lots of research showing that actually, if you want children who do tend to have more pro social behaviors, as they're called, that being very controlling, being authoritarian is not the way to do that. And the more we punish children, the more there are lots of different outcomes, all of which are pretty negative. But I think that still misses this wider picture that fundamentally we don't, for example, decide to not punish our daughter or not shout at her or not put her in timeout because we think that's the best way to create a good, happy person. Laura: Compliant child. Eloise: Yeah, we do it because it feels really fucking unfair. Like, I wouldn't want it if my husband was like, ‘Hey, I don't like the way you just spoke to me. So I'm going to remove your debit card for two days'. You know, that would be abuse. We would call that abuse.He, you know, I wouldn't like it if one of my friends was like, ‘Oh, you replied to my text a bit late'. Or like, ‘I didn't like that you didn't, you know, you, you missed something out. So I'm just going to ghost you for a while.' You know, that's not how we have relationships with people we care about, but yet we have completely normalised this way of treating children.And I think that, yeah, there's a missing piece, which so many of those big New York Times and so on articles seem to miss is that this is not about having another method. This is just about fundamentally treating children like fellow human beings in a respectful way.Laura: Yeah, you're so right, that oftentimes we're kind of weaponising gentle parenting as a, like as a ‘nice' way, inverted commas, a ‘kind' way, caring way to try and control and manipulate our children. Eloise: Yes, totally. Laura:  Like, again, I get that. I get why, like, you know, having some tools in your toolkit so that your kid will put their fucking socks on or brush their teeth in the morning so you can get out the door, like why that's helpful. And yeah, if we're doing it solely for the purposes of compliance, that in and of itself can become problematic because it's another way that you're kind of leveraging power, I think.It's a complicated, kind of topic to discuss. Sorry, I'm having like a few different thoughts of where to go! I think maybe I'll stick with gentle parenting just because we've kind of been on that topic. And I was saying to you off mic that I have a feeling that gentle parenting has a diet culture problem.And what sort of spurred this was a reel that I saw, I think just before Hallowe'en. So we're recording this at the beginning of November. We've just had Hallowe'en a couple of weeks ago and there was a kind of quite well known, like, I guess they're gentle parenting influencer coach? I don't know what you would, you would call them.And they basically were talking about how they only let their kid have, I think it was like a cake pop or something on special occasions, which turned out to be like three times a year. And I was like, I was just waiting for people to send me this reel and be like, what, what do you think of this? And the first person to send it to me was Molly Forbes from Body Happy Org. And she was like, gentle parenting has a diet culture problem. And I wanted to get your take on that. Is this something you've seen in, not necessarily gentle parenting, I'm sort of picking on that, but like in children's liberation spaces where there's kind of like a, we want to change the power structures so much. But when it comes to food, and policing bodies, there seems to be like a bit of a disconnect there.Eloise: So I think there are two different strands to this. And I think maybe first we can talk about the kind of more, I guess, like mainstream Instagram version of sort of gentle parenting, which I think absolutely does have a diet culture problem. And then maybe we can talk a bit about this idea of children's liberation, which I think to me feels much less…you know, a lot of the people I know who are talking about children's liberation are also talking about fat liberation, around black liberation, around disability liberation.Laura: Right. They have that intersectional lens on. Yeah. And I think that's a really important distinction. So I'm glad, I'm glad that you made that. Cause like my next question is, was going to be, could you tell us more about, you know, children's liberation. So yeah, I'm really glad that you kind of separated out those two strands.So maybe start with the, like, Instagram…which I can see, just like, I can see the despair in your face. I think it seems like how I feel a lot about, like, a lot of kids feeding stuff online is probably how you feel about a lot of parenting stuff.Eloise: Yeah. Again, I think so much of it means well, but I think there is quite a big intersection between sort of like gentle parenting influencers on the one hand and wellness culture. And I think that often goes really hand in hand. So this idea of kind of like crunchy parenting, you see it a lot as well in homeschool spaces. So obviously I home educate my daughter. I follow home ed accounts. I often get shown stuff in my, like, what is it, like, ‘Explore' section of my Instagram. And I think depending on where you hang out online, there is a really strong mix of, you know, I home educate my children and I gentle parent, and I also use essential oils. And I also don't ever buy processed food and all of these things coming together in a very aesthetically beautiful and pleasing package, which doesn't…  Laura: Ballerina Farm effect. Eloise: Totally. Yeah. I'd love to know if Ballerina Farm has a, like a secret snack cupboard with her kids. It's just like a munching on dandelions.Laura: Sourdough and yeah, dandelion butter.Eloise: Yeah, absolutely. And again, I think that is this sense from people who maybe were raised, you know, lots of us were raised in the eighties, the eighties, especially in the UK, didn't have great culinary vibes. Sure, like I get that we want to do better.Laura: I grew up in Scotland, we had battered Mars bars. I don't know what you're talking about.Eloise: That sounds great, sign me up. Yeah, I think that sometimes we can maybe go too far or not go far enough. So a great example of this for me feels like the division of responsibility approach to family meals, which I think for so many people feels like, yes, this is kind of different to how I was raised, you know, this isn't about children finishing their plates or being reserved the same meal until they finished it.You know, you really do hear some horror stories when it comes to people and their relationships with food, which started, as so many things do, when they were children. Yeah. And so I totally get that there is this searching for something better. And I think for some people, this idea of division of responsibility, which I'm sure people will be familiar with as they're listening to your podcast, but this idea that I choose what to serve and I choose when to serve it, but you choose what to eat. It looks nice on the surface, but again, it doesn't have any of that interrogation of a power again, like I'm going to sound like a broken record, but imagine if my husband was like, ‘right, I've planned out all of our meals for the week, all of the snacks, all of our meal times, but like you can choose. It's up to you, babe. You know, if you want it, you can have it. If not, have shit.' And I feel like, again, we wouldn't do this to people who were not children. You know, we might do it to people at institutions, but again, is that really what we want to be going for? And I think a lot of this is done with real love. You know, we want our children to be healthy. We want our children to be happy. We're constantly told in every aspect of our lives, if you have a fat child, they will be miserable and unhappy and unhealthy. And that's the worst possible thing you can do as a parent. And I think that unless you have really engaged with anti-diet culture, fat liberation culture, I can see the appeal of this quite like wellness, you know, Deliciously Ella style approach to feeding children, which I think goes really hand in hand with this idea of wooden toys and gentle parenting and kind of slightly alternative living, but which is packaged up in a very kind of consumerist way. Laura: Totally. Yeah. Yeah. I've talked before about not being a division of responsibility purist and kind of going back to what you were talking about before about authoritarian versus permissive, is that right? And then, yeah, I always get confused, authoritative is kind of in this, in the middle.  And I think a lot of people do position the division of responsibility as being that middle ground. And in a lot of ways, I think, especially when kids are really little, it can be like a really helpful way to kind of parse out and, and help kids kind of understand like hunger and fullness cues, for example, and things like that. But yeah, like as kids get older, they, like, want to have a bit more autonomy over what they're eating. They want to have some decision making power. Why, why wouldn't they, right? Like you say, we make decisions about what we're eating all the time. And if somebody tried to stop us from doing that, we would like, yeah, throw a conniptions. So yeah, I think this is where the, the responsive feeding piece comes in, where it can be really helpful, is that it can be containing for a child to have sort of set meal times, you know, to know like, okay, I will always provide breakfast. I will always provide lunch. I will always provide dinner and, you know, snacks are maybe sort of like somewhere in the middle there. Yeah. I think having that, like a bit of structure can. In the same way that boundaries can be helpful, that that can be helpful. But yeah, if we are then, especially as kids get older and start socialising with people outside of our families and you know, are going to like, you know, outside of primary school, going into secondary school and have more, you know, have their own money to buy things, for example, if we are then still trying to like micromanage every single aspect of what they're eating. Then, yeah, that's really, really unhelpful. And I guess I never really thought of it so much as through the sort of like lens of power dynamics, but I think that that's a really important piece that you're, you're bringing to that conversation. What do you see in terms of, like, in those same spaces around like conversations about sweets and restriction and that kind of thing? I'd love to hear, yeah, what you see around that.Eloise: Yeah, I mean, you can probably imagine, I think. And again, I think there is a real diversity. So I'm kind of caricaturing a bit here. And I think it's also important to say that, like, with all of these conversations…you know, we were just talking about division of responsibility.I think that is quite a big gulf between, say, a wealthy influencer who is talking about this stuff and someone who genuinely has no choice about just serving three meals a day because they've just been to a food bank. So I think all of these questions around, like, giving children choice and being able to be very child led still do come with quite a privileged lens.I have to say again, you know, in terms of sweets and things, I have seen people being like, here's how to make your own fruit flavoured gummies and switch these out instead. And, you know, look, I have no problem with any of this. I enjoy cooking. So that's something…like, I've never made my own gummies, but I would absolutely, you know, I sometimes make our own cakes or biscuits or bread.It's fun. It's part of, like, eating nice food. I enjoy doing it. But I think this idea that to be a kind of good parent, you have to restrict…often the discourse is around, like, refined sugars…seed oil. That's a new thing that I haven't really engaged with. Laura: Don't, don't, don't.Eloise: E numbers, red dye, all of this stuff. And again, look, I get it. I get that you want to give your child a healthy diet. And, you know, I think I would be hypocritical…like we also try and give our daughter a pretty balanced diet where she has access to lots of vegetables and fruits alongside things typically kind of coded as unhealthy, like chocolate or crisps. But for me, it just feels like it makes such a big issue out of these foods.And then…you know, I say this as someone who, as a child, had quite restricted food. So I had really bad eczema as a young child, and my parents were also on a very low income, and so we didn't just have a snack drawer with loads of like pre-packaged snacks, you know, that wouldn't have been in my parents budget, and also with terrible eczema, my mum… She was quite a young parent.She, you know, she didn't know what to do with it. And she went to lots of doctors. They couldn't help. We tried all sorts of different things. And one of the things she tried was cutting out refined sugar, for example, because people had told her this might help. So for a lot of different reasons, I had quite, like, a restricted upbringing in terms of, again, things typically coded as like ‘junk food'. And I really saw the impact that that had on me as I grew older and had access to my own money or had access to, you know, food choices at school. And I remember being absolutely mystified going to friends' houses that they could have cupboards with, like, chocolate and crisps in and not just want to sit and eat the whole thing because like, ‘Oh my God, you have chocolate and crisps. Why wouldn't you want to eat the whole thing?' And I think for me that has served as quite a powerful reminder of so many of the brilliant conversations I see, like the ones you have had around not overly restricting certain types of food. And I've really seen it in action with my daughter as well, where we're pretty chill about what she wants to eat.It's her body, you know, we might have some conversations if she was wanting to eat doughnuts for every meal. What has been really fascinating is just seeing that because this stuff has never been separated out from other foods. She isn't hugely fussed. And again, you know, sometimes she is. Hallowe'en, it's really exciting to have access to all these new different chocolates.Laura: Totally. The goal is not to take the pleasure out of food like that, right? Like, I think that's sometimes what parents…the interpretation of sort of the message that I'm trying to communicate and other people in this space are trying to communicate is that we want to, like, burn kids out on sweets so that they never eat them again.That's not it. Like, food is joyful and pleasurable and like, that's, you know, especially in the context of kids not having any, like, any autonomy or any power over anything. Like, can we just throw them a fucking bone and give them some chocolate, right? I really appreciate what you were saying Eloise about, well, there were just a couple of things that I think, are really important to highlight, you know, in these conversations that a lot of people don't have the choice, right, to offer their kids a more liberal access to sweets and chocolates and crisps and things. And, and the restriction is born out of poverty and deprivation rather than what I think we see in a lot of sort of more privileged well to do spaces where, you know, people may have, can afford plenty of, I don't know, Oreos, but they're not providing their kids access to them. And yeah, I think also the piece around having complex medical needs where you might have no choice, even if there's an allergy or something where it's also really difficult to provide kids the things that you would like to provide them all of the time.So it's not a straightforward conversation and I'm glad that you kind of brought in that complexity. Something else that you mentioned was, you know, if you separate out the kind of like Instagram aesthetic approach to gentle parenting versus kind of more of a radical approach to parenting that is rooted in children's liberation. Can you tell me more about that and yeah, how, how things feel different in that space?Eloise: Definitely. So a very potted history is that people started talking about children's liberation with that language in the 1970s with writers like John Holt, who some people will be familiar with. He writes a lot about alternative education…wrote. And people like A.S. Neill, who founded the Summerhill School, which again is like a big radical school in the UK. But the children's liberation of the time – as many of the writing in the 70s was – was very radical, so it was sort of based on this idea that children should be given the exact same rights as adults, even when it came to things like sexual relationships or information in terms of, you know, children should be allowed to watch whatever movies they wanted to.I think some of these ideas are still absolutely worth exploring and engaging with today, but obviously some of them will be very radical. And I think what he missed…this was before the UN declaration on the rights of a child. And I think what that did is for the first time brought together this idea that children have lots of different rights. They have rights to be protected as well, as well as being able to participate fully in society and to be provided with basic levels of, you know, healthcare and decent quality of living and so on. And I think children's liberation now has to be able to grapple with these things. So the idea that yes, children…we should be fundamentally trying to rethink these power differences, but they do need to be also rooted in the understanding that children's needs are a bit different from adults and that we can still assume that children are competent and still listen to children's voices and involve them in every aspect of society without having to go as far as absolute like legal equality. So we can still give them equality in their rights and equality and just dignity in how they're treated. So for me, this is what Children's Liberation is really trying to do. It's this idea that it's a way to sort of combat adultism that we talked about earlier and really trying to see children as complete people who are able to have a say in every aspect of their lives and where they're really trusted. But that goes alongside having adults around who are also willing to provide support and care too. And I think that then when you start looking at things like food from this perspective, you really see it as just a wider aspect of children's bodily autonomy of being able to choose what happens to their bodies and for children to be able to learn and make mistakes. And yes, have it within these really loving, supportive relationships, either with parents or with other people where, you know, if your child is routinely eating so much chocolate that they're making themselves sick. Then of course, you know, I'm not saying, well, you just ignore it and you think, well, this is a great learning experience. Although it might be if they did it once, you know, this is about sitting down and having a conversation just like we would do with any other thing. And saying, how are you feeling? This is what I'm noticing. Do you want to talk about different strategies? You know, we can also have these just really being in relationship with our children and trying to figure these things out as a team. I think it's fine to have conversations with children around, okay, we don't buy this food because X, Y, Z, or as a family we prioritise X, Y, Z. Does that feel cool with you? You know, is this working for you? It's not about making sure that…you know, sometimes I see the opposite position as well. Like, you know, mothers are already so stressed. Do you expect us to be short order chefs? Of course not. But it can be as much as checking in when you're doing the grocery shop and just being like, ‘Hey, are there any meals you especially want to eat over the coming week? Is there anything, this was what I was thinking, is there anything here you really don't like the sound of?'And you know, sometimes I cook stuff that my daughter doesn't like and that's fine. But I just have the assumption then that she can eat something else and I'm not going to be cross at her for doing that. Again, just as I would with my partner, I'd be like…I know the kind of foods he likes. I will sometimes prioritise those and I'll sometimes prioritise the stuff that I like. You know, it's just about being in relationship together. But I think we are getting better at highlighting where children are able to consent, for example. And I think that food is such an important part of that. And it's also such an important part of children's sort of embodied resistance when they feel that they don't have enough power.You know, we tend to see a child pushing their plate away and being like, I don't like it. I don't want it, as bad behaviour or being overtired and maybe they are overtired, but also maybe they're really fed up of having their meals controlled all the time, and that's something we should at least be exploring.Laura: Yeah, I love that in your book you have a chapter on, I forget what the title is, but it's sort of the intersection of children's liberation and body liberation. What's the title of the chapter?Eloise: It's called Body PoliticsLaura: Body Politics. There you go. And I love the way that you talk about embodied resistance and how children literally will protest with their bodies, like things that don't feel good, that things that don't feel uncomfortable.And I think like you say, so often that's written off as they're tired or they're hungry or, or something like that. But oftentimes they're like really giving us a clue as to how they're feeling. ‘No, I don't want more food, like, forced into my body. No, I don't want to eat that particular thing. I don't want to… whatever it is. Like I'm fed up. I'm feeling like I don't have any agency or autonomy in any of these situations.' And the only way that I can exert that is through, like, stiffening my body and going, like turning it into a plank so that you can't get me in the bath or whatever it is. I really love that section in that chapter where you talk about that.Is there anything else that you wanted to say? Because again, like the intersection of children's liberation and body liberation or body politics is like, it's so much more than just food, right? That's kind of my, like, bias, but you talk about a lot of other intersections. in the book, and I'm wondering if there's anything else that you wanted to say, anything that feels really pertinent right now.Eloise: Yeah, I mean, I think we're getting really good as women at noticing how things to do with our bodies are actually deeply political, whether that's diet culture, whether that's the way that we're marketed anti-ageing products too, whether that's abortion rights. There are so many different aspects to this, but we tend to see that these are political and that they can be engaged with in these political ways.But again, I think we miss the nuance of this when we're talking about children's bodies, whereas actually even from the tiniest age, the way that we manage, measure, control, discipline children's bodies are all so deeply political and are all tied into all of these different ideas. And I think what we really see with diet culture is it becomes yet another thing that adults do to children from a young age and then children inevitably will often learn to do this to themselves and we see this in other things too, you know, and not all of it is bad. For example, many of us will teach our children table manners because we know that eventually it will help them later on in life because, I don't know, people will treat them better because they'll see that oh, my child is not speaking with the mouth full or whatever.And that's part of that is just the social norms of whatever society you live in. And as we can see, table manners look radically different across the world. But sometimes, you know, and we can see, I think there are really strong parallels with diet culture and with the way that we treat neurodivergent children in terms of kind of masking.And, you know, when you talk to lots of autistic adults or adults who are neurodivergent in other ways. They talk about how as children, they really had to learn to mask. And so much of that would have been adult led, you know, telling your child, don't wriggle, don't do that. Don't make that noise or your teachers at school…don't do that.And then as adults, they've kind of internalised those things. And they don't do it and they mask so much and then, you know, so many autistic adults now will talk about this process of unmasking and de-masking and learning how to sit in yourself in a way that to me feels very much in parallel with people who as adults come to this idea of being anti-diet culture, of fat liberation, of trying to slowly unlearn these habits of how we look at our bodies and how we feed ourselves and so on.And I mean, you can see in other aspects too, but to me, they feel, like, so strongly linked. And once we start recognising this, you know, so much of it is about how – and you've written beautifully about this in the past – how as children, we are so embodied, you know, we make sense of the world through our bodies.We often…most children, unless children are very unwell, will find joy in their bodies. They'll move their bodies, they'll make noises, they'll explore things. And gradually as they get older, and sometimes from a really quite heartbreakingly young age, they will learn to start being critical around their bodies, judging their bodies, comparing their bodies to other people.And I think that, again, if we are thinking about this in terms of adultism and how we can start to dismantle it, I think thinking about this lens of what does society expect of children? In my book, I use the term, we have this sort of normative view of children or what a ‘normal' child should be, whether that's in terms of our physical development, what their body looks like, their emotional development, their intellectual development, and at every stage of children's lives, starting before children are even born, you know, we're ranking them, we're plotting their centiles.Laura: Fundal height! Yeah. Eloise: Yeah, absolutely. And we're figuring out, you know, what “abnormalities” our children might have, you know, I've put that in scare quotes. And as parents. Or educators, if you've got teachers listening, we're so used to now viewing children through this deficit lens of, ‘oh, you're too fat. You're too noisy. You're not smart enough'. Rather than just seeing children as these glorious individuals who all have differences and who all bring different stuff to the table. Laura: Yeah, I love that. And I really, really love the parallels that you drew between unmasking and kind of unlearning a lot of the things that we have internalised around diet-culture, around policing our bodies. I'd never made that connection in quite that way before. And I think it's, it's really powerful. And particularly when you think about it through the lens of adultism and, and how so much of, so much masking is learned because of adults expectations and the power that adults hold over children. Likewise, you know, so much of the healing from diet culture involves unlearning the messages that we internalise from our, you know – and again, well meaning most of the time – caregivers that in a lot of ways we're probably trying to keep us safe, but in a sort of misplaced kind of way. So yeah, I appreciate that and I love that final sentiment that you had there around just embracing the differences that children have and, and the unique qualities that they bring and, and sort of…yeah, just kind of going back to what we talked about earlier, just really like having an appreciation for who they are right now, even if they're not adults, but the things that they have to bring to the table and that, that they have to offer, like in the here and now rather than waiting until they like ripen and mature or whatever. They're kind of bad analogies people use. I really appreciate this conversation. Thank you so much Eloise. Before I let you go though I would like for you to share your snack. So at the end of every episode my guest and I share something that they've been snacking on can be anything, a literal snack, a book, a podcast, a TV show, something you're wearing, whatever.What do you have for us today?Eloise: So I've got a great book, which fits actually really nicely and kind of accidentally with the theme of this conversation today, which is called Trust Kids. And it's edited by someone called Carla Joy Bergman. And it is this wonderful collection of, she's got some essays in there, interviews. Some of the interviews are between parents and their children. They've also got young people writing some of the essays. There's poetry in there, so it's kind of something for everyone and it deals with lots of different themes, including lots of themes around bodies as well. And it is great. And because of its format, you know, no piece is more than I would say four or five pages, so it is perfect to snack on. And especially as a parent or caregiver, you know how it is. Your kid is engaged in something, so you grab a book for two minutes and it's perfect to read while the kettle is boiling, whatever else you've got going on. And it is brilliant. So I can really recommend it.Laura: Oh, I've heard of that book. It's been kind of on my, like, to read list, but I haven't got around to it yet. So thank you for the little nudge there. I'll link to it in the show notes so other people can check it out. And I really, I've been struggling to read lately. So the thought of, like, dipping in and out of something is really appealing.Okay. So my snack is, well, today is actually my husband's birthday. So I guess my snack is birthdays in general. We've got our birthday tree up, which I've talked about before. It's a big bright pink Christmas tree, basically that we decorate with like happy birthday lights. There's balloons everywhere. And this morning we had a delivery from Flavourtown.Do you know Flavourtown Bakery? Yeah, Eloise knows. So we've got chocolate sprinkle cupcakes. They look amazing. I'm very excited about them. And we're going out for dinner tonight as well. So like, yeah, just the whole like birthdays, but specifically Flavourtown cake. If you haven't had it, they do like vegan options. They do gluten free options and just like regular. And they're like American style, like loads of frosting. You can get, like, rainbow cakes. You can get ones with Biscoff. Like if you like a really saccharine, sweet, indulgent cake, then these are the ones for you. All right, Eloise, before I let you go, could you let everyone know where they can find out more about you and remember to say the name of your book one more time, uh, so that people can pre order.Eloise: So yes, my book, It's Not Fair: Why it's Time to Have a Grown Up Conversation About How Adults Treat Children. You can pre order it. It's out in June. It's very exciting. I can't wait for you all to read it. And then I'm also on Instagram @mightymother_. And I also have a Substack called Small Places, which is probably the best place to kind of find out more broadly about my work and find links to ongoing things as well. So yeah, those are the best places.Laura: We will link to all of those in the show notes so that people can find you. I really appreciate this conversation. Thanks so much for coming on. Eloise: Thank you so much for having me. It's been such a joy.OUTRO:Laura: Thanks so much for listening to the Can I Have Another Snack? podcast. You can support the show by subscribing in your podcast player and leaving a rating and review. And if you want to support the show further and get full access to the Can I Have Another Snack? universe, you can become a paid subscriber.It's just £5 a month or £50 for the year. As well as getting tons of cool perks you help make this work sustainable and we couldn't do it without the support of paying subscribers. Head to laurathomas.substack.com to learn more and sign up today. Can I Have Another Snack? is hosted by me, Laura Thomas. Our sound engineer is Lucy Dearlove. Fiona Bray formats and schedules all of our posts and makes sure that they're out on time every week. Our funky artwork is by Caitlin Preyser, and the music is by Jason Barkhouse. Thanks so much for listening. ICYMI this week: What Are You Eating Right Now?* How are you flipping gender scripts for your kids?* Nourishing Full Bodied Awareness with Hillary McBride* Let's Talk About Snacks, Baby This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit laurathomas.substack.com/subscribe

Alright team, after a little hiatus from the CIHAS pod for a month, we're coming back hard with Molly Forbes. Molly joined me back in May 2022 on the Don't Salt My Game pod where we discussed how to stomp out diet culture in schools, and I'm so excited to have her join us in today's episode.This time around, we discuss what the NCMP is, what it looks like in different schools, why you might want to opt your kid out, how you even go about doing that, and what you can do if you're worried about your child feeling left out if they're the ones who are left in the classroom while everyone else goes to get weighed.Find out more about Molly's work here.Follow her work on Instagram here.Follow Laura on Instagram here.Subscribe to my newsletter here.Read more about the history of and evidence behind the NCMP here:Here's the transcript in full:INTRO:Laura Thomas: Hey and welcome to the Can I Have Another Snack? podcast, where we talk about appetite, bodies and identity, especially through the lens of parenting. I'm Laura Thomas, I'm an anti-diet registered nutritionist and I also write the Can I Have Another Snack newsletter. Today I'm talking to Molly Forbes.Molly is a journalist, campaigner and non profit founder. She's the author of the book Body Happy Kids: How to Help Children and Teens Love the Skin They're In and she's the founding director of the Body Happy Organisation CIC a social enterprise dedicated to promoting positive body image in children. I asked Molly to come on during the back to school season because we need to talk about the National Weight Measurement Programme, or the NCMP.This is the programme where children in England have their height and weight taken in schools at age 4-5, so in reception and then again in year six, which is ages 10 or 11. My understanding is that this happens in various forms throughout the UK. So in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland too. Although let me know in the comments how it's different for you or, you know, what the similarities are if you're in one of those countries. The UK government have taken the position that this is an innocuous practice. But, as I discussed with Molly, this is not reflected in the body image research. The programme is associated with poorer body image, which in turn is linked to disordered eating, body preoccupation, and lower overall sense of well being.So Molly and I, in this episode, go on to discuss what the NCMP is, what it looks like in different schools, why you might want to opt your kid out, how you even go about doing that, and what you can do if you're worried about your child feeling left out if they're the ones who are left in the classroom while everyone else goes to get weighed.I really hope you will share this episode with your school WhatsApp group, your friend group, with the teachers in your school, and help end the tyranny of the NCMP. You can also share Body Happy Org and Any Body UK's Informed Decision Making Pack and my writing on the NCMP, all of which I'll link to in the show notes for you.All right, before we get to Molly, I want to tell you real quick about the benefits of becoming a paid subscriber to the Can I Have Another Snack? newsletter and community. Now, I know we're not used to having to pay for content on the internet, and why would you pay for something where 85% of the content is free? Well, that's a great question. I'd love to answer it for you. Well, because without paying supporters, this work just wouldn't be possible. As well as supporting me in the time it takes to research, interview contributors and write articles, your support goes towards paying guests for their time and their labour, as well as a podcast and newsletter editor. You also help keep this space ad and sponsor free so I don't have to sell out to advertisers or exploit my kid for freebies. Plus keeping the community closed to paying subscribers only means that we keep the trolls and the fatphobes out.I recently asked the CIHAS community why they support the newsletter, and this is what they had to say: “I am a mum of one, fairly adventurous, self-proclaimed vegetarian and one theoretical omnivore. The latter survives almost exclusively on added sugar and butter, but mostly sugar. I consumed all the picky eating advice, some of it really well-meaning, and pretty mellow. But by seven years in, I was more frustrated, confused, and full of self-doubt than ever. Enter CIHAS. The no-nonsense, cut through the bullshit, science-backed content is exceptional. The content about sugar is especially helpful to me, and the anti diet lens is an anecdote to my extremely anti-fat slash diet-culture conditioning. And as an American, the British references are just an added bonus to say your work is actively changing. My life is not an understatement. Thank you.” Well, thank you to the reader who shared that lovely testimonial, and if that hasn't inspired you to become a paid subscriber, I don't know what will. It's just a fiver a month or £50 for the entire year, and you get loads of cool perks, as well as just my undying gratitude for supporting my work.Head to laurathomas.substack.com to subscribe now.  All right team, here's Molly. MAIN EPISODE:Laura Thomas: Hey Molly, can you start by telling us a bit about you and the work that you do? Molly Forbes: Yeah. So I run an organisation called the Body Happy Organisation. We're a CIC, so a Community Interest Company, or a social enterprise. Or if you're in the US, you might know that model is like a non profit. And essentially what we're all about is trying to create environments that allow children's body image to thrive.So we're really looking at prevention and we're looking at how we can create, kind of, culture change in schools and youth clubs and anywhere that children hang out and are to help, kind of, create an environment that just allows kids to just be at peace and friends with their body. And then all the other benefits that come with that, including how they treat other children with bodies that don't look or function like their own.And I also wrote a book called Body Happy Kids, which is for adults,  teachers, parents…I'm not a nutritionist. I'm not a dietitian. I'm not a psychologist. But I'm a journalist by trade. So I've really interested in that kind of media and culture angle when it comes to this subject. And that kind of informs, I guess, the lens that I come to this through. But in our organisation, we do have lots of different people from a range of different disciplines, which I think is also what makes us kind of special because we're not at it just from like a body image researcher lens, for example, or just from a nutritional food lens.We're looking at it from, like, a range of different perspectives.Laura Thomas: Yeah, the work that you do is really important. And one sort of thread of the work that you're doing is around the National Child Measurement Programme or the NCMP, which is what I wanted to ask you about today. So when this goes out, it's September, it's back to school time. And I know there's a lot going on on parents' radars at point in time, but I don't think that the NCMP registers as like something that's high up parents list, you know, in that back to school period.And in fact, I think a lot of parents don't even know what that is, or the fact that their kids will automatically be enrolled in it. So I wondered if you could start by explaining what the NCMP is and why do schools do this?Molly Forbes: Okay, so the NCMP, it stands for National Child Measurement Programme.  it was brought in to schools in 2006. And then in 2012, they started including the feedback element of the programme. And essentially what it is, it's exactly what it says on the tin. It's a national child measurement programme.So what happens is if your child goes to a state funded school,  and they're in reception or year six, then they will be weighed and they will have their height and their weight measured in school, as part of that programme, unless you opt them out.So in 2018, when the GDPR rules changed around GDPR, they kind of changed the way that, like, the logistics will work. So what you really need to know is if your child's in reception or your child's in year six from September, like in this next academic year, they will be weighed in school, unless you actively opt out.It's a way for the government to collect data on kids' height and weight. across the UK. But it's been reframed as this sort of health intervention over recent years as the, you know, the rhetoric around, you know, the O word, obesity, which I don't use that word in my work, but that's the word that we'll see, we'll see in here in the media.As that kind of rhetoric has really got more aggressive then the argument for the NCMP has been that, like, this is a positive thing for our children's health and it's really important and…it's a totally politicised programme.Laura Thomas: Yeah, and so for people who aren't in England, reception is, sort of, I guess the equivalent of like kindergarten or primary one if you're in Scotland, where those kids are four turning five years old. So they're really little still. And then the other thing that I think is important to point out is that year six kids are sort of around that 10,11 mark and their bodies might be preparing for and getting ready to go through puberty or might already be starting the process of puberty. And that is something that is not factored into the sort of the BMI equation and the feedback that is given to parents. And that, that's kind of another piece of this story as well, isn't it, Molly, that the introduction in 2012 of what is colloquially known as the obesity report. And of course, I don't use that word either, but that's the terminology that families will hear. And so basically, the NCMP transitioned from being just a very objective measure of, you know, population changes over time to something that that offers direct feedback, but also in a way that can be stigmatising and judgmental and really upsetting for for families to receive, which we will talk a bit about in a minute.But can you, like, get us into the government's mindset, if you can, around this programme? Why do they think that this is a helpful exercise to put kids through to weigh them in schools, you know, around their peers, with no kind of like real measure of their health, just looking at you know, what we know to be sort of a bullshit measure of their relationship with gravity, their body's relationship with gravity,Molly Forbes: There's the public reasoning and then there's, like, the real reasoning. Actually like we could just cut out all of the waffle around the public reasoning, which is what they'll say that actually, it's good for kids health. It's important that we know what you know, the trends are when it comes to height and weight. It helps us make public policy decisions. It's really important that we have this data. But we could actually just cut all of that out and actually get to the heart of the matter, which is it's all about money. So previously, like back in the day, many schools would have had a school nurse and that nurse would have been like on site and been the person that, you know, if the kids had a tummy ache, they go and see the school nurse, the school nurse would have done like head lice checking. They would have done health education with the kids in terms of like that kind of public health education piece and they would have been like, quite a key part of the school environment just in the way that like the teachers were.And the role of the school nurse was… the focus was really on that holistic kind of health and thinking about health in a holistic way. It's really expensive to do that. So what's kind of happened over the years is the NCMP has been brought in as almost a way to kind of replace that sort of holistic school nurse approach.Now, what you need to know about the NCMP is that many people delivering the NCMP aren't actually school nurses. They work for local authorities and they work in the health team. So they work in the school nursing teams but they're healthcare assistants. They don't have the training and the expertise that a school nurse has.It's not the schools that, that take the measurements. What will happen is the outside teams will come into the school on a pre-organised and agreed day of the year, if the school agreed to it, and the children will basically be lined up and it'd probably be in the school hall or in a separate classroom.And one by one the children will go in and they'll stand on a scale and they'll have their height and their weight measured and they'll probably get a sticker and they'll go back out into the classroom. And the people who are actually taking those measurements are, nine times out of ten, not school nurses, they are healthcare assistants.Now that is so much cheaper to run than having a school nurse who's on site in a school who's actually going in and like teaching kids about like personal hygiene maybe or being there, like if a kid has a tummy ache or like they fall over in the playground, like having someone who's got that level of expertise to actually treat the child on site. It's expensive to, to run that kind of programme and it's much, much cheaper – even though the NCMP costs loads of money – it's much cheaper as a form of public health policy programming than actually having like dedicated school nurses who actually like proper teams who come in and do like proper impactful work with kids and with schools. And so what's happening is the NCMP – which it is a data collection exercise, it's being reframed as a health check – and so lots of parents are then worried about opting out because they think, well, it's a health check. Just the same way that, like, your child's two year check with their health visitor is a health check. People think it's the same thing. And it's really important to know that it is not the same thing. It is absolutely not the same thing.Laura Thomas: And I think I've seen definitely in the sort of the template letters that the government has for schools to use and local authorities to send out to parents about it. The way that it's framed is very much as not just as a, an exercise in health, but also it's framed as being…they don't go as far as to say that it's mandatory, but they give the impression that it's you know, quite a critical check, almost like, like you say, the two year checkup.So tell me a bit more about how that government narrative compares and contrasts with what you see at Body Happy Org and what other researchers and advocates are saying about this programme.Maybe you'll get into this, but you know, it's something that, that really strikes me again in that literature that they, I say literature, but you know what I mean? Like the template letters that they send home to schools…is one of the things that they say very clearly is that there's no negative impact whatsoever of this programme and they claim to have tested that.  But I don't think that…well, I know that's not the full story because I've written about it and I know you know that's not the full story. So can you kind of, like, fill us in on maybe some of the things that is, is less transparent in the communications from people administering this programme?Molly Forbes: Yeah. In 2021, the Women and Equalities Committee released the Body Image Report, and one of their key recommendations was to urgently reassess the NCMP, National Child Measurement programme. And the government's response to that was that they had absolutely no intention of urgently assessing it. In fact, they wanted to double down on it. And, and get teams in and do even more weighing and even more measuring of kids.Now, we created this information pack around the NCMP so parents could actually make a fully informed decision. And we work with Anybody UK, the charity on that pack, it was like a collaborative piece of work that we did together. And they gave evidence to the Women and Equalities Committee as part of that initial report. And what's really interesting is in the rebuffal that the government kind of provided, they cited a study from 2008. And this is often the one that's kind of cited, that found that actually, according to this study…so they basically looked at London schools, and they said that, well, actually, it doesn't cause any issues and, and in some cases, you know, children actually really enjoyed it.Now what's really interesting and important to know about that study is that it was, first of all, it was an opt in study. So parents opted in to get their children weighed. They chose to put their children forward for this. The NCMP is an opt out situation. So unless you actively opt out, your children will get weighed.So already you've got to think, right, who are the people who are opting their children in? So perhaps if a parent thinks that their child is more likely to get, you know, a gold star and be in that healthy weight range category. they're probably less bothered about their child being weighed because they're going to feel like their parenting is validated because their child's body size is fitted, fitting the size that society is telling them that they should fit.So already, like, we can assume that like you know, who are the families, what's the weight range of the children who are going to be measured as part of that study. But the other thing to know is that actually that study did find that children who were found to be in the quote unquote overweight range, their parents were more likely to then follow that up by putting them on a restrictive diet.Laura Thomas: So the research that the government themselves are citing is contradicting the claims that the government are making.Molly Forbes: Well, the claims that the government are making is that actually that's a positive thing and that that's a healthy kind of outcome. So basically what they're saying is that, um that whole study was conducted through the lens of like, you know, healthy weight.  And so essentially, if fat kids get put on a diet, or if some fat kids are harmed in the process, then that's a necessary evil, or it almost doesn't matter.Laura Thomas: Right. Fat kids are fair game for being collateral damage.Molly Forbes: Yeah, completely. Exactly that. And they, they didn't look at it through a lens of how it might impact a fat child, or a child who's, who for whatever reason is more likely, is less likely to come out in that like healthy weight, weight range category that we know is like so flawed anyway.Laura Thomas: Mm hmm.Molly Forbes: So that's their like big study that they cite that's like, oh, there's nothing wrong with it. Most children even enjoyed it, but actually they weren't looking at it. They were looking at it from completely the wrong lens and actually there is so much other evidence to show that weighing children in schools is actually really harmful and the potential for causing harm is massive on so many different levels but the government just basically chose that one study and just keep citing it over and over again as their response and like almost basically refusing to look at the other evidence.Even when it was literally handed to them on a plate as part of that report. Laura Thomas: Yeah. So tell us a little bit more about the harm. So what kind of things do you think are the sort of the fallout from a programme like this?Molly Forbes: Yeah. I guess you can break it down into like two areas. So you can look at the individual harms and the individual child. And then you can look at the, the bigger piece, which is the kind of,  the more like the systemic factors and like the culture piece and the environmental piece, which is what we're kind of interested in at Body Happy.So from like an individual level…by the government's own admission, it's more likely that, that if a child comes home with a letter saying that they're not in the healthy weight range, that they're in the quote unquote overweight range or obese range, that their child will put them on a diet.Now that's really dangerous. I think if someone's listening to this podcast by now, they probably will have done the work to understand why diets are harmful. But it's particularly harmful. Like these are children that we're talking about. We're talking about children who are, you know, four and five, you know, who actually…I mean, you can speak to the health risks of putting a child of that age on a restrictive diet. But then also we're talking about children who are 10 and 11, whose bodies are changing and are going through puberty, which is again, I mean, it's not good to put any kids on diets, but these are two ages when you definitely, definitely do not want to put kids on diets.You can probably speak a bit more about that in terms of like that individual impact.Laura Thomas: Yeah. I think, I mean, the piece around kids, we talked about it before, you know, around 10, 11, preparing to go through puberty, that is one point in time where children are most vulnerable to the development of eating disorders, body image disturbance, low body esteem, which can become a risk factor for things like self harm, anxiety, depression.I mean, it's kind of a chicken and the egg sort of situation in terms of the research, but we know that those things track, you know, where we see dieting and disordered behaviors, there is a strong correlation with poor mental health outcomes.  And then there's the fact that those kids, like, literally need to be growing and gaining weight and, and then the thing that their bodies are supposed to do is the exact thing that we're trying to stop them from doing. That can cause all kinds of problems in terms of their development.I've written a little bit about the risk factors of, or the risks associated with putting children on a diet. So I will link back to that post and, for people who, who maybe are newer around here and, and want to unpack that  a little bit more, but maybe you could say more about the systemic piece, the broader piece that you're focused on at Body Happy. Molly Forbes: Yeah. So we're working really hard to help children know that all bodies are good bodies and all bodies are worthy bodies. And we're working really hard to kind of create cultures in schools that celebrate all bodies and celebrate body diversity and allow children to see themselves as more than their bodies.And that actually, we should treat everyone with respect and dignity, like regardless of what anyone looks like, and we know that, like, weight based teasing and bullying is the most common form of bullying in the playground, like the World Health Organisation have found that.And on the one hand, if we're saying to children, oh, don't, don't do that. Like that's not very kind to, like, tease and, and bully someone for the way they look. But then on the other hand, we're weighing them in school and we're sending letters home saying your body is wrong. That's essentially what we're saying, your body is wrong. So it basically gives the green light for that kind of behaviour. And it also…at any opportunity for body neutrality in a setting where we are literally creating body hierarchies and upholding these hierarchies by weighing children in school is one way, you know. Also the way that we approach, you know, quote unquote healthy eating education, the way that we talk about food and bodies, the way that we deal with appearance based bullying.But weighing in children in schools is like one way that we uphold these body hierarchies. So actually, it literally undermines everything that we're trying to achieve at Body Happy Org. We're trying to create these spaces that celebrate body diversity, celebrate differences, have a real, much more of a focus on, like, body neutrality and health behaviours as separate to… you know, as one part of health, but also separated from weight. So we're trying to teach kids that you can't tell how healthy someone is by looking at them. And even if you could, it shouldn't change the way that you treat that person. Yet we're also weighing them in school and sending a letter home saying you're unhealthy, right, now what's the impact of that? You're going to go and be put on a diet or you're going to be, you know, your parents going to… feel that's a risk. You know, the letter doesn't necessarily say. put your child on a diet…Laura Thomas: Well, it kind of does because it sends people to the Change for Life website or whatever it's called now. I forget, but it basically, it says, if you've received one of those letters, go here, you go there and it says, encourage your child to eat less and move more. And there are so many, I mean, that's problematic in and of itself, but there are so many assumptions baked into that, right? Encourage your child to eat more fruit and vegetables. Well, you don't know how many fruit and vegetables my child is eating. You don't know how active they are. You don't know, you know, what other health concerns they have. You don't know what other, you know, the socio political cultural circumstances that that child's body is, you know, contained within, that all have a bearing on their, their, their body weight.So to just sort of put it down to the, the old calories in calories out equation is…I mean, this is slightly tangent, but it's just, I guess, to me, it's just ratifying anti-fat bias and saying, yeah…it's like you said before, it's creating this disconnect between wanting to create a place of safety for our children, which, you know, schools should be a place of safety, but there's this really violent practice that we're continuing to subject our children to on this other side.And it's just like, yeah, the mixed messages and the head fuck for that child is overwhelming.Molly Forbes: And it's, it's really insidious. So what was happening prior to 2012 is that kids were basically being weighed and the parents weren't receiving…they didn't get any feedback –they call it feedback – and they didn't get a letter home. And so now after 2012, they started sending this letter home.And the parents will receive or the caregiver will receive a letter saying that if your child is in the, one of the basically not the healthy weight category, the parent will be told that and then they'll, as you say, either they'll be directed to like another website, more information. In some areas, they will also be then… Laura Thomas: Referred. Yeah.Molly Forbes: Ttheir details will be passed on to the weight management team or the healthy weight team or whatever they call it, weight management services.And the parent might be contacted and said, you know, do you want to sign your, your kid up? And, you know, I, I sort of jokingly said, oH they're not explicitly saying, put your kid on a diet, but actually what is happening in some areas is that the child is being referred to a weight management service, such as Slimming World.You know, if that's not a diet, what is? So actually, yeah, you're right. That is what's happening. And so that's kind of harmful on an individual level, but we know that, like, kids display anti-fat bias right from like the age of three.Yeah. So, actually, kids know that there is a good and a bad weight that they don't want to be. They know right from early that they're getting these messages. They believe that, you know, that fat is bad and thin is good. And they get these messages from so many different places. And these messages are upheld often by their teachers and perhaps their parents and the family members, people around, by society at large.And so if they're then going into that room to be weighed, you know, if a child, particularly a child who has a fat body has already probably received lots of negative messages about their body, they know that like, as they step on the scales, they're potentially going to, you know, quote unquote, fail the exam.And what's the outcome of that going to be? And the thin kids know as well. It just upholds these ideas that there are good bodies and bad bodies and it literally gives the green light to bullying in the setting and it also gives the green light to kind of these unsaid judgments and bias and microaggressions to just continually happen in the setting.And it's really harmful for all children. It's not just harmful for children who are going to get a letter home. That kind ofatmosphere, it doesn't support any child to have a positive relationship, either with their own body or with the bodies around them. It's completely counterproductive.And that's important. It's important because we know that kids who have,  you know, a better relationship with their body are generally happier on the long term, healthier. However, you want to kind of categorise that like really loaded word of health. You know, more likely to have better self esteem, less likely to be at risk and vulnerable of, like, eating issues, other mental health concerns, such as anxiety, depression.But also – like those are all individual things – but on a whole, like for me, it's just how we raise children to treat other kids, you know, and this programme is counterproductive to that. And the other piece, and this is the thing that I don't often talk about, but there is also a toll on the adults as well. There's a toll on the parents who are receiving the letter.Laura Thomas: Absolutely.Molly Forbes: There's a toll on the teachers. So many teachers, we've got teachers in our team and they hate it.They hate it on school weighing days, like literally keeps them up at night. They get so upset knowing that their children are being lined up going in and it can be so triggering because they might have their own experiences and bad memories of these kind of things happening when they were at school.And actually many of the people who have to carry out this programme don't like it, you know, it's one part of their job, but I hear from many people who have to do this that don't enjoy it. They don't like it. They know of the…Laura Thomas: Harms. Yeah.Molly Forbes: It's just not fair on anyone.Laura Thomas: So, let's talk about maybe some logistics here in terms of how the programme is conducted, because parents have a choice. Teachers, to some extent, have a choice and schools have a choice, and I don't think that we talk about that part enough. I think you've done a really lovely job of laying out the harms here but I think it's really important to, to help parents figure out how to navigate this. So what, what happens in schools, right? Will parents get a letter? Will they know that this is happening and what can they do with that information? And I know that this is also nuanced because it, it varies by local authority to local authority and school to school. So yeah, as best as you can, can you kind of help us understand what to expect?Molly Forbes: Yeah. So what should happen and the advice for how local authorities and nursing teams need to be delivering this program is that what should happen is that they contact the school and they say, hey, can we come in and, and measure the kids? And the school…the school at that point does have a choice, the school are allowed to say no. And many schools don't know this, but they are allowed to and they do have a choice.Laura Thomas: And who's that up to? Is that up to the head teacher?Molly Forbes: Yeah. So, the head teacher, but often there'll be like a governing body as well. And also schools are often nowadays they're part of like a federation or trust so there'll be other schools. So, it might be that there's a CEO of that federation and so it goes up, you know, higher and higher to who is able to make that decision.It is a big deal. It's scary for schools to say no because the local authorities get so much funding for delivering this programme that they put a huge amount of pressure on schools to kind of let them in. So often schools feel like it's a mandatory thing and they can't say no, but what if there are any teachers listening to this is actually, you can say no.Laura Thomas: It's within your power?Molly Forbes: Yeah. When I was creating this pack that…she now volunteers for Anybody UK, but someone on that team who wasn't on the team when we were creating this, she is a school governor and she's been helping her school in London opt out of it. And there's been a whole process. They've had to have meetings with parents. They've had to do, like conduct surveys. They've had to go through like various processes with the governors. But, I believe that they are on the way to opting out of it. So what happens then is that say, for example, the school let them in, which nine times out of 10, they will, then two weeks prior to the team coming in to take the measurements and collect the data they should and, and will send home a letter.But it's coming not from the school. It's really important to know it's not the school. It's not your kids' teachers who are taking these measurements. It's not them who are, although they're the ones who are communicating with you, if there are any like fuck ups and a child is opted out and then still gets weighed, which can sometimes happen. Like ultimately it's not the teachers who are taking this data.Y eah, so the school will send a letter home, or the local authority will send a letter home via the school saying this is happening on this date, and if you want to opt out, then you can either do this. So sometimes there'll be a form,  if they want to make it super easy, there'll be a form. And so you can like fill in the form and just say, I don't give consent. What's increasingly happening is that they're making it harder and harder, making you jump through like multiple hoops.So it might be that you have to ring a phone number, and it might be that when you ring that number, no one answers. Or that you leave a voicemail message and that, you know, and you're having to keep doing that. And I know that as a parent who works full time, that's a nightmare to have to do.Laura Thomas: It's such a pain. Yeah.Molly Forbes: It's such a pain and it's just life admin that no one has time for. I feel like that's not accidental, you know. I may, maybe I'm being cynical, but it feels to me like that's not an accidental choice to make it harder for parents to opt out. And then what should happen is, on the day that the measurements are taking place, the kids who are going to be measured are, like, lined up, and they're sent on through, and they, they have the measurements, and the kids who aren't are basically, like, kept separate, and they don't get sent through, and, and they won't be measured.Laura Thomas: So they can like stay in the classroom or whatever.Molly Forbes: Yeah, exactly. And,  what should also happen is that kids… when the kids are getting measured, they don't see the measurement on the scale so that they, they don't see what the measurements are and they are measured on their own. So it's not happening like in a public, in front of the whole class. Laura Thomas: That's true. But I just want to say that there's a lot of research that suggests that either school nurses or healthcare assistants will report back what the child's weight is depending on, you know, or tell them the category that they fall in. And so it's not as sort of taped off as it sounds like it might be and also kids can look! They can just look, right. Like there's nothing to prevent them from just checking the number. I mean, maybe not the four and five year olds are going to have a harder time with it, but certainly by year six, they can look. And I think the other sort of fallacy that I hear is that, you know, it's all contained within that moment that they get measured, but there's also reports that children will go out and compare their weights in the playground. And I think that's where that bullying, teasing risk kind of comes in, that you talked about before.Molly Forbes: That's what should happen. And that's what in like the best practice kind of how to run the programme they say should happen. But I know anecdotally that that doesn't always happen. So I know anecdotally that there are some children that will be opted out and the parents will opted them out, but the child still gets weighed.Because, you know, accidents are happening. Everyone's overworked. The teachers are stressed and overworked. The nurses are stressed and overworked. There's a lot of children coming through that they have to get all this data. I also know anecdotally, I've heard from parents where the children have overheard their weight being discussed in front of them in their earshot.And I've heard from parents where the children have, as you say, then discussed their weights with, with their peers. So although that's kind of the best practice way of happening and, and that's what they say should happen, it isn't always, no, it's run by humans and there's always room for human error to happen.Laura Thomas: Sure.Molly Forbes: And then afterwards, once they've kind of processed that data, that's when they will send a letter home. Now, it's also important to know that the letter home part of the programme is not mandatory. So the programme is a mandatory programme that the local authorities have to deliver, but that's the local authorities that have to deliver it. The schools don't. They are not mandated to allow the programme to happen in their school. So although the local authority, which effectively runs the schools, is mandated to do that, the schools do have some autonomy. And also the local authorities are not mandated to then provide the feedback. The feedback is an optional added extra part of the programme. And again, I think many, many places don't realise that. And there have been some pilot studies and some trials in some areas where they've looked at what happens if we don't send that feedback letter. And that's really promising, but also there have been some other trials looking at what happens if we ramp up and we just go all in and we double down.And along with that feedback letter, we also include a diagram, which shows children with a different range of bodies, like on a scale from thin to fat. And we like put a big red circle around the body that that child's weight falls into and what then, what will happen if we do that, will the parents be even more likely to quote unquote, take it seriously and do something about their child's weight.So there are two things happening and, depending on, you know, who's running it, kind of depends on what happens. Within that whole framework, there are things that the schools can do to, like, minimise some of the potential harms. First of all, just letting parents know that they can opt out, I think is really important. And second of all, just letting parents know about the information so they can make an informed decision. Because like, if you get like ten forms come home about, you know, there's a school trip happening next week. Oh, by the way, this is our lunchbox policy. Oh, by the way, your kid's being measured and here's the homework that we're doing. Like, it's just going to easily get lost. Whereas if the schools make it really clear to the parents like, okay, this is happening. And this is the letter that we have to send to you. And in this letter, it will say there are no…that studies show there are no adverse impacts of, like, this, this programme. If they could also just link to the Body Happy Org and Anybody UK information pack that would at least give parents enough information to make, you know, know the full story.Laura Thomas: Yeah, and I think just on that on that piece of like all these letters going home and things getting confused and I think like another thing that I've heard happening is just kids opening the letter themselves because again, if you're like 10, 11, you're like, oh, what's this? I want to have a look.And they're reading You know, your child is quote overweight or quote obese and what like the impact that that that can have, it's not even, you know, filtered through the lens of a parent who might be able to be like, well, fuck this, this is rubbish and just, you know, get rid of it, which I know a lot of parents do because they're..they feel like, like you said before, like it's an indictment of their parenting.But yeah, like what happens when that falls into the hands of, you know, a preteen who is really vulnerable to it. So I just, I wanted to make that that point there as well. Like, so just to kind of wrap up, can you tell us a bit more about the… is there anything else you want to say about the process of opting out or, you know, how to, like, any tips for parents to make sure that if you have opted out that you've really opted out?Molly Forbes: Yeah. So I think one thing that I definitely hear the most and one of the biggest pieces of resistance of opting out is that parents are really worried that their child is going to feel left out. Particularly the little ones, like they get a sticker and they get a sticker and like, who doesn't love a sticker?And so like their mates are all coming back into the classroom saying like, I'm, I'm good. I've got a sticker and they're on their own and they just feel left out. And that's a totally  valid and, and natural thing to worry about as a parent. Like what parent wants their kid to be left out and in the class not getting a sticker.Laura Thomas: So side note, at preschool, they give a stamp on the hand for good behaviour. Good behaviour apparently includes eating all your lunch. So my kid...never gets a stamp. So I've just bought a stamp and I've been stamping him and reminding him that you, that he's the boss of his body and it's up to him how much he eats and yes, trying to get away from that behaviourism.But anyway, that's a little detour. We'll come back to...Molly Forbes: I would love you to give him the stamp so that he can go into the playground and just be like….Laura Thomas: Yeah, stamping everyone,Molly Forbes: Yeah, everyone should get a stamp.Laura Thomas: But challenging the school's behavioural policies is for another, another time. But, yeah, so there is that concern that parents have that their parents, that their kids might feel, like left out or sort of singled out for something. So how, what would you say to that?Molly Forbes: Yeah. And the other part of that point as well is that it's really natural if you are the parent of a fat child and you know that you're more likely to get a letter home, it's probably really natural that you would want to opt your kid out but then it's also a very natural concern to be like, do I want to highlight, make my kid even more of a target and have them the only child in the class that is not opted out?Like, will that make that? So there's a sense of safety there. And I think it's really important to understand like it's very difficult.Laura Thomas: That's such an important point. Yeah, I'm glad that you raised that.Molly Forbes: But, but what I think is also really important to note that actually, the more people who are aware that you can opt out and the more people who opt out, then the less chance we have of these kids being in these situations where they're the only one.And actually, a couple of weeks ago I heard from a parent who's,  she shared the NCMP information pack from Body Happy Org and Anybody UK in her class WhatsApp group. Her daughter's in year six and her daughter came home a couple of weeks ago, and they'd been in and they'd had all the weights, the NCMP team had been in and over half the class had opted out.Laura Thomas: Wow, that's…I thought you were going to say like five kids! That's incredible.Molly Forbes: No, over half the class opted out. So. The more people who are opting out, the more other people who are going to opt out. And actually so many people don't know about this. So even if it's just a case of like forwarding this podcast episodet or mates at school and toyour parent mates and being like, Oh, Hey, did you know, do you know about this? And like having a conversation with people about it, the more chances you have of like other people also opting their children out.Laura Thomas: And I think if you're in any parenting groups, if you're in any school groups, even if your child, you know, even if your child isn't in reception or year six, can you spread the word to parents whose kids are going to be impacted in that year. So even if it feels like it doesn't directly impact you…like last year, I remember sending your pack and the, some articles that I had written as well to like health WhatsApp groups and things that I'm involved in just to kind of help spread that word because I think the more of us that are talking about these issues, the more wider reaching impact that we will have.Molly Forbes: Yeah, absolutely. A hundred percent. And I think also if your child's older, if they're in that year six kind of age group, it's also a really good opportunity to make them part of the conversation. And that's what I did with my eldest daughter. And I said like, this thing is happening and this is why I want to opt you out of it. And what do you think about it? And I think, like, at that age, they are able if, especially if you've already kind of like done the groundwork for the way that you talk about bodies at home. And hey, you know how your school still does it the old way where they stamped kids who've had like a clean plate, you know, and it's like these are the old way. And we don't do that at home. This is happening. And I don't, I don't feel comfortable about you being weighed. And I want you to like, how are you feeling? How would you feel about that? And I think like making kids be kind of part of that conversation at that age can actually be a positive way to then raise little mini advocates who, like, who are activists who literally the future generation who are going to go out and like challenge some of this stuff.Laura Thomas: And how might you approach that conversation with a younger child, do you think? Because I think you can talk about this with a four and, I mean, I know you can talk about this with a four and five year old. So, but, but how, I mean, what might that sound like? Do you think?Molly Forbes: So I think  it would sound like, like focusing on the practical stuff first. So the fact that some of your class today, some of your class might be weighed, and that means standing on a scale, you know, if you don't have scales in your house, like we don't,  it would be kind of a, a bit of a age appropriate explanation about what a scale is and, and why, you know, in our house, you know how we know that all bodies are good bodies, maybe using a picture book, you know, like that lovely Tyler Feder Bodies Are Cool book to like have that kind of conversation.  Or, you know,  the book Big, which is like the latest one that I really love as well. To kind of talk about how, how might it make children who…even if your child has a thin or straight sized body, like getting them at age four and five to think about, you know, actually how might other children feel, you know, being weighed, you know. In the same way that we have those conversations about like, how my daddy pig feel when Peppa pig is mean about his body and always makes his body the punchline of the joke, you can start to have those conversations with little kids and encourage them to kind of grow their empathy skills and think about how other people might be impacted by something.And then I think like, if you have opted them out, just kind of making them aware that this thing might be happening today and some of your class might be going out the classroom and they might come back and they might have stickers. So maybe like being prepared and sending your kid to school with a sticker.Laura Thomas: But not just any sticker, Molly!Molly Forbes: Oh yeah, the Body Happy stickers. We've got some new Body Happy stickers!Laura Thomas: Teed you right up for that.Molly Forbes: I nearly missed that one. Yeah, like just making sure that they've got something to make them feel, you know, special. And then like having a conversation with the teacher and saying. Hey, did you know that there's this resource? I know it's probably too late for you to send it around the school, this information pack, because we've already received the letter, but, it is still worth reading because there is advice in there about how you as a school can manage it and how you as a teacher can manage it. And like maybe bookmark this weighing day with like some positive activities and making sure that like all the kids have a sticker. Like I'm very big on the stickers. I feel really sad for the kids that don't get it.Laura Thomas: Can, can you do bulk orders of the stickers for teachers to have in their classroom?Molly Forbes: yeah,Laura Thomas: Do a little teacher discount.Molly Forbes: Oh yeah, we need to get funding so we can send all the schools a sticker pack. But yeah, I feel like that there are so many things that that can be done, so that even if this programme is happening, that we're kind of mitigating at least some of the potential harms of it.Ultimately, I don't want the programme to exist, but I'm not a lobbyist.  and we have to be really aware at Body Happy Org that, actually, you know, we're in a difficult situation because if we, if we were to start lobbying on this and actually actively kind of campaigning against this programme, that could put us at risk of like not being invited into schools to do our really important workshops at this because it's like recent government changes in terms of advice for who schools can invite in to like run sessions with their kids.So what I want to do is…I just want parents and schools to be aware of all of the various different elements and nuances so that they can make an informed decision. And even if they do decide to allow it to go ahead to at least, at the very least do some of these things around it to mitigate some of its potential harms.Laura Thomas: Oh, Molly, I so appreciate you coming and kind of unpacking all of that. Cause yeah, there's, there's some nuance to this conversation, right? I was just thinking to myself, well, if enough people opt out. Then maybe schools will get the message that actually, we don't want this programme and the whole schools will start to opt out.But then there's also a real risk that the government will, you know, slide in some other legislation that makes it mandatory to participate in these programmes. So, you know, I think, yeah, we're sort of bouncing on a knife edge with this stuff and, and, I guess what we're saying is we have to be conscious of potential unintended consequences, both of participating in the programme, but also from opting our kids out as well.Molly Forbes: Yeah.Laura Thomas: Oh, thank you, Molly, for the just relentless work that you and Body Happy Org are doing,  around this issue.So real quick at the end of every episode, my guest and I share something that they have been snacking on. So it could be anything, a show, a podcast, a literal snack, whatever. So what have you been snacking on lately?Molly Forbes: So I'm going to say a holiday. So this is, this is coming out in September and I will have just come back from France and spending five weeks in France. My favorite thing about holiday is…one of my favorite things is like the supermarkets and I love….Laura Thomas: Like foreign supermarkets are so much fun.Molly Forbes: Especially like French supermarkets are just the best like, oh my gosh, like the cheese. I'm such a cheese fan and I love like just walking down the cheese aisle and just seeing like, oh my gosh…..Laura Thomas: Supermarket sweeping the whole like aisleMolly Forbes: And my favorite thing is like on a holiday, what I really love is the fact that you don't have to meal plan, like, we don't…I absolutely love being able to say, oh, hey guys, what should we have for dinner tonight. I don't have to like do a whole shop and think like, you know, days ahead of, like, what the meal plan is just, we're going to eat whatever we fancy. In this…what should we have for lunch right now?Right. It's not like a packed lunch that's been packed the night before. That kind of being able to be spontaneous with food and like really brings for me as a mum who's busy working and like the mental load and same like with my partner, my husband, like both of us, like get so bored of doing the meal planning and we just like, it brings the joy back into food.Laura Thomas: Yeah.Molly Forbes: Over the, over the summer. So I'm going to say like French supermarkets and also a literal snack. I love goat's cheese and I love, you know, like that time in the day when you're on holiday, when you've just like spent the day out, maybe you've been swimming, maybe you've been on a bike ride, you've been out in the sun and you come home and, or wherever we're camping, so you go and have a shower.And you're all like lovely and clean and fresh and then you sit down and it's like just that period before dinner when you're sitting down and I love like a snack at that point whether that is…well my favourite is goat's cheese but like the hard goat's cheese that you chop up into like bits with like those little mini cornichon pickles, like a little bit of goat's cheese with like a little bit of one of those pickles it's just like mmm I love that.Laura Thomas: Okay, you're making me hungry and I also want to come on a holiday with you, so pack me in your suitcase.Alright, so my snack is a book. It's a complete gear shift from what we've just been talking about. It's a book called Radical Intimacy. It's by Sophie K. Rosa. And I think... The title Radical Intimacy is a little bit misleading because it's not really…like it does talk about romantic relationships, but,  the main sort of thesis is talking about how capitalism infiltrates all different aspects of our life, everything from, like, our interpersonal relationships, what counts as a relationship, who counts as a relationship, how we kind of hierarchicalise our relationships for want of a better word. Like our, our families, our family life, and you know, everything like just…it's really an interesting exploration of some of these, the ways that,  capitalism infiltrates our lives, but also kind of about reimagining something different, something more expansive and, yeah, I'm really here for it.So I will link to that, and I'm also going to link to your NCMP pack, which really, I'm just asking everyone listening to forward it on your WhatsApp groups through email, like share it if you're on a school PTA or like a,  what's it called? Like the governance?Molly Forbes: If you're a governor.Laura Thomas: Yeah. Please, a teacher, like, please take it really seriously.I think what I heard Molly says there's a lot of red tape to opt out, whether it's opting out your child or opting out a whole school, but, you know, you could be laying the groundwork for that for, you know, maybe beyond when your child is even at that school, but I think that's a really worthwhile endeavour.Molly, can you tell us all really quickly where we can find out more about you and your work?Molly Forbes: So the Body Happy Org website is www.bodyhappyorg.com. And we are also Body Happy Org on Instagram. And I am MollyJForbes. Molly with a Y, on Instagram and I'm also really enjoying Threads. That's a whole other conversation. I don't really hang out on Twitter so much. I'm on Twitter, but I don't really hang out there as much, but yeah, probably the website and it's got all of our emails and all of that stuff there as well.Laura Thomas: Well, I'll link to everything in the show notes so people can find you. Thank you so much, Molly.Molly Forbes: Thank you.OUTROLaura Thomas: Thanks so much for listening to the Can I Have Another Snack? podcast. You can support the show by subscribing in your podcast player and leaving a rating and review. And if you want to support the show further and get full access to the Can I Have Another Snack? universe, you can become a paid subscriber.It's just £5 a month or £50 for the year. As well as getting tons of cool perks you help make this work sustainable and we couldn't do it without the support of paying subscribers. Head to laurathomas.substack.com to learn more and sign up today.  Can I Have Another Snack? is hosted by me, Laura Thomas. Our sound engineer is Lucy Dearlove. Fiona Bray formats and schedules all of our posts and makes sure that they're out on time every week. Our funky artwork is by Caitlin Preyser, and the music is by Jason Barkhouse. Thanks so much for listening.ICYMI this week: Rapid Response: Actually, Maybe Don't Say That to Your Kid* Reclaiming our Appetites* Rapid Response: Why I don't like ‘this food does a little/this food does a lot'* Dear Laura: I'm freaking out about what my kids eat - but is it really about them? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit laurathomas.substack.com/subscribe

Up the Duff is brought to you by the Positive Birth Company in Partnership with ElvieProduced by Audio AFIn this first series we are diving straight in at the deep end and tackling TABOOS! The everyday stuff most people experience after having a baby, but which nobody likes to talk about. I'll be chatting to friends of The Positive Birth Company about their experiences, as well as sharing my own, on everything from poo, wee, mind, body, sex and bodily fluids. If it's a bit gross or a bit embarrassing, you can be sure we've got it covered.About this episodeIn today's episode we are talking about BODIES. From boobs to bumps, bellies to bums, we are going to be talking about the inevitable expansion that happens during pregnancy... and what happens afterwards! About MollyThere's no end to Molly's talents, nor her appetite for empowering others with her passion for body confidence. Devon-based mum of two, Molly, is a podcaster, TV presenter, workshop host, public speaker, blogger and Instagrammer – all of which provide accessible and relatable ways to improve the confidence of her loyal and engaged audiences. She also founded the #FreeFromDiets campaign to change the way weight loss products and slimming services are marketed around children. As well as her desire to help alter body image opinions, she covers lifestyle and fashion for like-minded mothers who want to rediscover themselves after having children. We are not born hating our bodies. Make sure your kids never do.Follow Molly @mollyjforbes@bodyhappyorghttps://www.bodyhappyorg.comMolly's BookBody Happy Kids Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We've been noticing it for a while, but plus size fashion is either just not progressing or outright getting worse. BUT WHY? This week we're catching up about our recent experiences with brands, why we think it's getting worse, and what we actually want from retailers!! We also get into Y2K fashion, The Hills, and reminisce about when bikinis had fabric…Plus we catch up on some more AITAs and your response to our incredible episode about children's body image with Molly Forbes.

We've been name dropping Molly and her book since literally episode 1, and we're so pleased we're finally chatting to her about how to raise the next generation of diet culture fighters! Poor body image is such a difficult generational habit to break - our parents were force-fed diet culture even harder than we were, and we've all been conditioned for so long that certain comments about food, movement and health, are second nature. Plus, there's so much pressure and judgement about raising kids in the 'right' way. So, we're chatting to Molly about advice, body image literacy, language, and even how to talk to your nieces/nephews/friends kids. Plus, we put the National Child Measurement Programme in the Bag of D***s, because duh, and we have some MASSIVE news!! Today's Sponsors:

Es ist wieder mal die Zeit im Jahr, in der Fitnessstudios Rekordbesuche verzeichnen und zumindest in den ersten Wochen des Jahres ziehen viele von uns durch, was wir als wichtiges Ziel ansehen: Mehr Sport, gesünder ernähren und natürlich: Abnehmen.TriggerwarnungZwischen 22:37 und 32:56 werden Diät-Maßnahmen beschrieben und Kalorienangaben genannt. Wenn ihr eine Essstörung habt oder hattet, überlegt euch bitte gut, ob diese Stellen förderlich für euren Heilungsprozess sind.Was ist "Diet Culture"?"Diet Culture" ist ein Glaubenskonstrukt, in dem es eben nicht um Gesundheit geht, sondern einzig und allein ums Dünnsein. Sie durchzieht die ganze Gesellschaft und beeinflusst schon Kinder, die lernen, was "gute" und was "schlechte" Körper sind.Darüber sprechen wir mit Molly Forbes von der Body Happy Organization. Ihr Ziel: Dass Kinder und Jugendliche glücklich mit ihren Körpern sein können.Körperbilder bei Rezo und Co.Körperbilder sind auch das Thema der Psychotherapeutin Julia Tanck: Sie hat sich auf Essstörungen spezialisiert und mit ihr zusammen schauen wir uns ein Video an, das Rezo, der für viele Jugendliche ein großes Vorbild ist, im Sommer 2022 veröffentlicht hat. Es geht um eine "Body Transformation", er wollte in 90 Tagen gesünder und schlanker werden. Ist das positive "Körperfürsorge" oder "Diet Culture"? Und was sagt er zur Kritik der Psychologin? Er hat uns seine Antworten geschickt!Mit der Professorin für Psychische Gesundheit und Psychotherapie Claudia Luck-Sikorski sprechen wir außerdem darüber, wieso Akzeptanz zentral ist.Anzeige: Diese Folge des Lila Podcasts wird präsentiert von Amorelie - dem Online-Shop für hochwertige Lovetoys zu fairen preisen. Mit dem Code "Lila20" bekommt ihr 20 % Rabatt auf alle (nicht-reduzierten) Artikel. Gleich einlösen auf Amorelie.de!Links und HintergründeHilfe: BZgA – Hilfe bei Essstörungen; Bundesregierung – Hilfs- und Krisentelefone; Antidiskriminierungsstelle des Bundes – Beratungalle Shownotes findet ihr auf lila-podcast.deFolgt und unterstützt uns!Wir sind auf InstagramWir haben einen Newsletter!Den Lila Podcast unterstützenDer Lila-Podcast-Shop Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did you know that 1 in 7 children are on a diet across the weight system? It is time to start changing the culture, not childrens bodies. Molly Forbes is here to create a more accepting environment for everyone, we discuss our role as mothers teaching about body image, the National Child Measurement Program, and how to raise kids to respect everyone.You can find Molly @mollyjforbes on Instagram or go to www.bodyhappyorg.comTrain Happy Trouper of the Week: ⁣DM @trainhappypodcast ⁣

Welcome to HOOVERING, the podcast about eating. Get on instagram and follow Jeanette THE MINDSET NUTRITIONIST and check out the amazing ALL BODIES RECOVERY that she's part of the team behind. An incredible initiative to help people in all sorts of marginalised bodies to recover from eating disorders. This podcast is largely funded on PATREON where if you join up you'll have access to masses to exclusive and advance content from guest recipes to personal mentions and one-to-one virtual meet ups with me.Come and see WENCH London's SOHO THEATRE from 11th - 14th January! And why not come and see WENCH GET FILMED IN BRISTOL IN MARCH, alongside the incredible JEN BRISTER also filming her epic show The Optimist. Yippppeeeeee.Come and see me HOOVERING LIVE at the Leicester Comedy Festival, at 3pm Saturday 18th February. I'll also be doing a WORK-IN-PROGRESS there at 6.30pm on Friday 17th.Recipes for what we ate are here: BUTTER BEANS and WHIPPED FETA and the bread and crispy chilli oil were from FOUND HOPE in Hither Green. We also mentioned HEALTH AT EVERY SIZE and the wonderful former guest MOLLY FORBES.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/hoovering. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode they cast of Drop Hints did their investigative journalism to get to the bottom of a local scandal. YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS THIS!

This week I talk to writer, campaigner and journalist Molly Forbes. Molly is author of the book Body Happy Kids: how to help children and teens love the skin they're in. In this episode, Molly shares her own journey to becoming body happy and how that led to her passion to help parents and children be happy in their bodies too. We go on to talk about a wide range of topics with lots of practical ideas to help you raise body happy kids and become more body happy yourself. We talk about: Anti-fat bias, thin privilege and how they are intertwined with sexism, racism and ableism. Why Molly talks about “body happy” instead of “body image” How to challenge the idea that some bodies are good bodies and some bodies are bad bodies depending on how they look Why body image is more than how we feel when we look in the mirror How to feel at peace with your body in a world that doesn't equate appearance with value Ways to improve your own body happiness and undo your biases around weight and appearance so you can model this to your children Helping children recognise diet culture The myth that health is directly linked to body size Why we need to shift our focus from individual responsibility to addressing the bigger systems that influence our health and wellbeing. How to help children develop a long term healthy relationship with food and movement. I absolutely loved this conversation with Molly. I highly recommend following her on social media @mollyjforbes @bodyhappyorg and checking out her Body Happy website. You can download Molly's free information pack about the UK's National Child Measurement Programme. Follow me on social media Instagram and Facebook @PamParentCoach

This week on the pod we have the AMAZING Molly Forbes! Molly Forbes is a journalist, campaigner and non-profit founder. She's the author of the book Body Happy Kids, how to help children and teens love the skin they're in, and the founding Director of The Body Happy Organization CIC, a social enterprise dedicated to promoting positive body image in children. Molly shares such valuable tips in this episode, including things she's learned along the way of being a mom and unraveling her own identity without diet culture. In this episode we cover unlearning diet culture, superiority associated with breastfeeding, raising body happy kids. Molly is such a great story teller, you will not want to miss this episode! Body Happy Kids Book

This week we talk to Molly Forbes, author of the book Body Happy Kids and founder of The Body Happy Org. Molly talks to us about her experience raising children in diet culture and the work she does to educate and empower both children and adults to create body image resilience. We discuss: Molly's experience on Naked Beach TV  How Molly navigates her children's exposure to media What if you are a parent with your own body image issues? How to handle when your child comes home and says “someone called me fat.” The Body Happy Org resources and mission   Social media handles: @mollyjforbes @bodyhappyorg The Body Happy Org: https://www.bodyhappyorg.com Molly's Book: Body Happy Kids We are now on Patreon! Join the private FB group. Connect with the show! Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/lifeafterdietspodcast/ Email – lifeafterdietspodcast@gmail.com Connect with Sarah Dosanjh Website – www.thebingeeatingtherapist.com YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBingeEatingTherapist  Sarah's book I Can't Stop Eating is available on Amazon Connect with Stefanie Michele Website – www.iamstefaniemichele.com Work With Stef - www.iamstefaniemichele.com/application

Hold tight folks, this is a good one! This week, I'm chatting with Molly Forbes, journalist, campaigner, author of Body Happy Kids and founding director of the Body Happy Organisation. Molly gives loads of practical and pragmatic advice for how you can begin to open up conversations with your school to stomp out diet culture and support positive body esteem. It's such a helpful episode for anyone who has wondered whether or not schools are undoing some of the things that you're doing at home to protect your kids' relationship with food and their bodies.  Some of the topics we cover include: How influential schools really are when it comes to supporting/disrupting body esteem.  Where diet culture creeps up in schools in areas like school uniform policy. How we can open up conversations with schools about diet culture, and how teachers can get their schools on board with an anti diet culture policy. How you can begin to tackle food policing policies.  National weight measurement programme and why you should opt your kiddo out.  if you enjoyed today's episode, then you can help the show reach more people by subscribing on your podcast player and sharing it with a friend! Show notes: Follow Laura on Instagram | Twitter Follow Molly on Instagram Follow Don't Salt My Game on Instagram Check out Molly's Instagram post school uniform policies Check out Dieticians 4 Teachers on Instagram Laura's Website Body Happy Org Website Buy a copy of Just Eat It | How to Just Eat It  Buy a copy of Body Happy Kids Sign up for a Learn with LCIE Course Buy an Intuitive Eating friendly guide to managing different health concerns Edited by Joeli Kelly

In this episode Anna chats to Author, Podcaster and Campaigner, Molly Forbes about how all bodies are good bodies and how we can teach our children to embrace their body regardless of their shape or size. Molly is the founder and director of The Body Happy Org. You can follow Molly on Instagram at @mollyjforbesYou can buy her book Body Happy Kids at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Body-Happy-Kids-Unlocking-children/dp/1785043587/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=body+happy+kids&qid=1613053841&s=books&sr=1-1&tag=linkfire-smarturl-21And find out more about The Body Happy Org and Molly's other work here https://www.bodyhappyorg.com

Today Ashley is joined by author, campaigner, journalist and Founding Director of Body Happy, Molly Forbes! They're chatting everything about body image, include how we perceive ourselves and others, how the media continues to shape our views, and how parents can help their children to develop good relationships with their bodies.If you want to ask Ashley a question, get in touch at askmumsthewordpod@gmail.com---A Create Podcast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Molly is the author of Body Happy Kids and the founder of the Body Happy Organisation, which aims to help parents promote positive body image for their children. She is also one of the hosts of the Body Cons podcast and a mum to two young daughters. In this episode we chat about her own experience with dieting, exercise and body image, along with how to raise our children with a healthy attitude to food, exercise and their bodies. For more information about the campaign, visit: www.bodyhappyorg.com Don't forget to subscribe, download and leave a review - I'd love to hear your thoughts.

We talk about the so-called "ob*esity" crisis for our kids and seem to miss the mark that it's this exact message of a hierarchy of bodies that creates problems. All bodies are good bodies. Imagine if that's the message we shared instead?In this episode we explore what needs to happen in order to grow body happy kids and how far-reaching the benefits of this are for all of us. All episode links and notes hereInstagram @nadiafelschFacebook Community - Food and Body Freedom

[CW: weight talk, extreme dieting methods, medical abuse]In this first of a two part series of the ‘The Fat Doctor Podcast', Dr. Natasha Larmie is joined by Natala, a former serial dieter whose incredible story highlights just how dangerous medical weight stigma can be. A former 'c-list celebrity in the plant-based diet world', Natala shares her experience of how she has finally conquered anti-fat bias in a disabled body. Together they cover:Why doctors shouldn't put children on a dietHow doctors should never BLAME their patients for their conditionJust how far people are willing to go to lose weightThe potentially fatal consequences of weight stigmaJust how awesome her brother is!Thank you for listeningIf you enjoy this podcast and would like to support Natasha so that she can continue making them, you can join her on Patreon.  If you fancy connecting with other like-minded people in a safe and non judgmental environment, then why not join her Facebook group the ‘Friends of The Fat Doctor'? You can also check out her webiste or find her on all the usual social media channels including Instagram, Twitter and Tik Tok. More about the show:How would you react if someone told you that most of what we are taught to believe about healthy bodies is a lie? How would you feel if that person was a medical doctor with over 20 years experience treating patients and seeing the harm caused by all this misinformation?In her podcast, Dr Natasha Larmie,  an experienced General Practitioner and self-styled Fat Doctor, examines and challenges 'health' as we know it through passionate, unfiltered conversations with guest experts, colleagues and friends.She tackles the various ways in which weight stigma and anti-fat bias impact both individuals and society as a whole.  From the classroom to the boardroom, the doctors office to the local pub,  weight-based discrimination is everywhere. Is it any wonder that it has such an impact on our health? Whether you're a person affected by weight stigma, a healthcare professional, a concerned parent or an ally who shares our view that people in larger bodies deserve better, Dr. Larmie and the team at 'The Fat Doctor Podcast' welcomes you into the inner circle.Resources and links mentioned in this episode:Episode 7 - weight stigma in Children with Molly Forbes and Body Happy OrgJes Baker is @themilitantbaker on instagramFurther information about Cushings can be found here.For information about how to manage medical conditions without dieting, check out HAES Health Sheets.

In this episode of ‘The Fat Doctor Podcast', Dr. Natasha Larmie is joined by writer, campaigner and public speaker, Molly Forbes.  Molly is the Director of Body Happy Org and author of the book "Body Happy Kids: how to help children and teens love the skin they're in". Together Natasha and Molly share a passionate and spirited discussion about:The impact of diet culture and anti-fat bias in childrenWays in which we can start tackling weight stigma in schools and other organisations that work with childrenWeight Management Services and the dangers of weighing children in schoolThe West Sussex case in which 2 children were removed from their loving home after failing at weight lossThank you for listeningIf you enjoy this podcast and would like to support Natasha so that she can continue making them, you can join her on Patreon.  If you fancy connecting with other like-minded people in a safe and non judgmental environment, then why not join her Facebook group the ‘Friends of The Fat Doctor'? You can also check out her webiste or find her on all the usual social media channels including Instagram, Twitter and Tik Tok. Resources and links mentioned in this episode:The Body Happy Org website.The book Body Happy Kids: how to help children and teens love the skin they're in. A more details analysis of the West Sussex case is available on my website.More about the show:How would you react if someone told you that most of what we are taught to believe about healthy bodies is a lie? How would you feel if that person was a medical doctor with over 20 years experience treating patients and seeing the harm caused by all this misinformation?In her podcast, Dr Natasha Larmie,  an experienced General Practitioner and self-styled Fat Doctor, examines and challenges 'health' as we know it through passionate, unfiltered conversations with guest experts, colleagues and friends.She tackles the various ways in which weight stigma and anti-fat bias impact both individuals and society as a whole.  From the classroom to the boardroom, the doctors office to the local pub,  weight-based discrimination is everywhere. Is it any wonder that it has such an impact on our health? Whether you're a person affected by weight stigma, a healthcare professional, a concerned parent or an ally who shares our view that people in larger bodies deserve better, Dr. Larmie and the team at 'The Fat Doctor Podcast' welcomes you into the inner circle.More about Molly:Molly Forbes is an author, campaigner, public speaker and the Director of Body Happy Org CIC. She is also - most importantly - a mum to two little girls. Molly appeared as one of the hosts on Channel 4's pre-watershed body image boosting show Naked Beach, founded the #FreeFromDiets campaign and is author of the book Body Happy Kids, how to help children and teens love the skin they're in (pub. by Vermilion, Penguin Random House). She also co-hosts the hit podcast Body Cons. A trained journalist and broadcaster with more than 15 years in the industry, Molly is an experienced public speaker and media commentator, regularly delivering talks to a wide range of organisations and appearing on TV and radio to discuss the subject of body image. 

On this episode I chat to Molly Forbes, the author of Body Happy Kids and a mum of two. Molly was a guest on the podcast a few years ago, when she was a host on the Channel 4 show Naked Beach, which shone a light on the body insecurities that many of us have and helped people to overcome them.Since then, Molly has set up social enterprise Body Happy Org, has been campaigning to ban diet club adverts around and near schools and using her voice to help others raise our kids in a body happy way.We talk about what's causing children as young as three to feel bad about their bodies, the lack of positive representation of different body shapes in books and the media and how to talk to our kids about their appearance and body issues.We also touch upon helping our kids foster a healthy happy relationship with meal times and food, using Ellen Sattyr's Division of Responsibility and how all of this *waves arms around* is HARD when we were brought up so differently.You can buy Molly's book Body Happy Kids here, follow her on Instagram and check out Body Happy Org and their work.If you enjoyed this episode then please leave a rating or review - and you can subscribe to ensure you don't miss future episodes. Thank you! Not Another Mummy Podcast is brought to you by me, journalist and author Alison Perry. I'm a mum of three and I love interviewing people about parenthood on the podcast. You can check out my other episodes and you can come chat to me on Instagram: @iamalisonperry or on Twitter: @iamalisonperry. You can buy my book OMG It's Twins now. Producer: Imogen HartMusic: Epidemic SoundArtwork: Eleanor Bowmer See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How we think or feel about ourselves and how we want others to feel about us can be manifested in the way that we look.  Some aspects about how we look, for example how we style our clothes, hair or accessories are within our control.  Other aspects, for example, our height or the shape of our skeleton, the size of our feet or hands are aspects about which we cannot control (without clinical intervention).   Body difference and physical appearance are two areas that my guest, Denise Sanderson has trained in and is an advocate for as you will hear in this episode.  Denise is someone that I hugely value in the HR world and she often gets me thinking and so it was a great opportunity to get her on to the podcast.   Some of the things that Denise shares that really got me thinking include: Is body difference and how someone looks a detriment to their chances of securing jobs or promotion? What are the links between body difference and racism? How has COVID helped and hindered those who have physical differences to the 'norm'? We go onto discussing how our physical appearance(s) shape how we (and others) feel about ourselves and how we feel about others.   What I really enjoyed about this podcast is the natural discussion we had and it made me think about things that I had not considered before.  I found Denise to be really engaging and here is a large amount of research and evidence that informs her thinking (and is shared below).  Your links and references to the key areas and ideas we discussed are below:   Changing the Perfect Picture: an inquiry into body image, Women & Equalities Commision - https://committees.parliament.uk/work/226/changing-the-perfect-picture-an-inquiry-into-body-image/publications/ https://www.uwe.ac.uk/research/centres-and-groups/appearance (Didn't quote this org, but should have)   Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia, Sabrina Strings (See Body Positive references below)   Body Happy Kids, Molly Forbes of Body Happy Org https://www.bodyhappyorg.com/   Some supporting charities:   BEAT: beateatingdisorders.org.uk Twitter: @beatED Mind: mind.org.uk Twitter: @MindCharity Changing Faces: https://www.changingfaces.org.uk/ Twitter: @FaceEquality   Denise's blogs: http://damsonbelle.blogspot.com/2020/05/more-than-month-of-memes.html http://damsonbelle.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-seven-stages-of-body-confidence.html   HR articles: https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/fattism-at-work-is-still-a-prevalent-problem/ containing... https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/obesity-research-fattism-is-the-last-bastion-of-employee-discrimination/ https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/experts/legal/lookism-forgotten-workplace-inequality#gref   Mental Health Awareness Week, 2019: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/body-image-report   The salary impact: https://www.socsci.uci.edu/newsevents/news/2018/2018-06-07-penner-patch.php https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/women-who-wear-makeup-get-paid-more https://www.theguardian.com/money/shortcuts/2015/apr/29/do-tall-people-really-deserve-to-earn-more https://www.forbes.com/sites/traversmark/2020/04/16/your-height-has-a-big-impact-on-your-salary-new-research-seeks-to-understand-why/?sh=8a7846d1071f   Check out on social media: A few additional references (I think) I made Lindo Bacon Natasha Devon #HAES #BodyConfidence   Other articles:   Body Positivity's history - https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z2w7dp3 Black and Body Positive - https://zenerations.org/2020/08/21/the-black-history-of-the-body-positive-movement/   Bonus: Denise's alternative view on BMI, as she calls it a “Bullshit Measuring Index” - BMI (referenced as an issue in the W&EC report…) https://www.everydayhealth.com/diet-nutrition/bmi/bmi-flaws-history-other-ways-measure-body-weight/ https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/diet-nutrition/a35047103/bmi-racist-history/ https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106268439&t=1626816486552   More from Denise: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denisesanderson/?originalSubdomain=uk Twitter: @_BodyConfidence or @DamsonHR Instagram: bodyconfidencecards_db Facebook group: Body Confidence Card Club   Follow us on Instagram for exclusive Podcast updates! https://www.instagram.com/emotionatworkpodcast/   Learn more about Emotion at Work: https://www.emotionatwork.co.uk   Connect with Phil: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-willcox-02013425/  

A conversation we've wanted to have for a long time, Zo & G are joined by Molly Forbes (author of 'Body Happy Kids') to talk all things body image when it comes to being parents.Together, they explore the negative messages we receive from society and navigating our, and our children's, relationship to food, exercise, balance and health.Listen by clicking ‘Play', subscribe or follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Acast and please do rate and review to help others find the podcast.Find a new episode every Tuesday & Friday and in the meantime check out Made by Mammas NOW! Check out Made By Mammas Instagram: @madebymammas Facebook: @madebymammas See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

https://www.bodyhappyorg.com/https://www.instagram.com/mollyjforbes/?hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/bodyhappyorg/https://www.bodyhappyorg.com/free-from-dietshttps://www.bodyhappyorg.com/body-happy-kids-workshophttp://www.bodyconspodcast.com/

Why We Love Molly: Molly Forbes is a writer, presenter, campaigner and a mum to two daughters. As well as co-presenting the podcast Body Cons, Molly regularly appears at events and in the media talking about body image, children and mental health. She has spoken on ITV's This Morning, BBC Breakfast, Sky Sunrise, Sky News, Radio 1 Newsbeat and various regional stations. In 2019 Molly appeared as one of the hosts on Channel 4's Naked Beach and later founded the #FreeFromDiets movement, calling for tighter restrictions in the way weight loss products and slimming services are advertised around children. She also runs workshops for teachers and youth leaders on the subject of body image and is currently setting up the The Body Happy Organisation CIC, a social enterprise dedicated to the creation of resources to help parents, teachers and carers to promote positive body image for children. Molly lives in Devon with her children and husband.  On the Pod, We Discuss: The specific moment that served as a wake-up call for Molly to explore her relationship with food and her body Why it’s crucial to examine our unconscious beliefs about what the “right” body is Molly’s body image journey and how she arrived at her advocacy work The impact of diet culture’s messages on children’s body image, health and wellbeing Practical ways to support your child’s body image and tools to incorporate into daily life The importance of having conversations with kids about health and separating it from weight How gender roles intersect with body image and how they show up in the media, marketing, toys, etc. The nuance of social media use and how to approach it as parents Navigating difficult conversations with people in your child’s life who might disagree with your views on food and body image And much more Helpful Links: Visit The Body Happy Org website Grab a copy of Molly’s book, Body Happy Kids Follow Molly Forbes on Instagram Watch our free masterclass to learn 5 Simple Shifts to End Binge Eating  Join our private Facebook group Set up a free breakthrough session to see if our coaching program is a good fit for you Learn more about our personalized Intuitive Eating coaching program

In this episode I get to know author, body positivity and confidence champion Molly Forbes.Molly talks candidly about how she managed to shift her own unhealthy relationship with her body and how over the years she has learnt how to reframe the way she sees herself.We chat about how we can learn to embrace our own bodies, the language we should and shouldn't use around diet culture and also how we can encourage the young people in our lives to feel good about themselves plus loads more.Molly has written an incredible book called Body Happy Kids which is out now and also has a fantastic podcast called Body Cons. You can find her on Insta @mollyjforbes.

Embracing differences is something most of strive to encourage in our child, but should we also be focusing on body diversity? Marina talks to author, Molly Forbes about the many benefits of a positive body image. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jsky chats exclusively to author, body image campaigner and fellow Channel 4 Naked Beach host Molly Forbes about positive discrimination, burnout culture, and her #1 debut book Body Happy Kids (Recorded 25/02/2021). For ALL things Jsky visit: WorldofJsky.com - please subscribe!

Today Zoe speaks to Molly Forbes, mother, writer, speaker, podcaster and body image campaigner.  She uses her platform to raise awareness and try and bring change around the normality of the diet culture within our society and its effect on our children.   They talk all things body image, as well as parenting, social media and more, a really thought provoking and value affirming episode.   KEY TAKEAWAYS It is intrinsically important to all of us to embrace and normalise our bodies, especially around our children. As a journalist, Molly has many different roles including in radio and as a presenter. After moving to Devon, Molly focused on social media and blogging, she mostly spoke about the realistic motherhood experience and this is where her following started. In doing this she realised she had negative associations about her own body and she was conscious that she didn't want to raise her girls to feel this way. She spent time researching the topic of body image and then began writing more about body image, mental health and how these topics intercept with motherhood. Becoming body confident is an ongoing process. It is about recognising the messages around us and not allowing them to ‘seep in'. You need to have internal resilience but we also need to change the culture we live in. After coming to terms with all of these messages as an adult Molly turned her attention to how body image and culture impacts children. It's so important for adults to think about how they react to their own body and the things they say about it around children – they absorb everything. Don't body shame yourself or other people. Molly now creates workshops and ‘body happy' spaces for children to be in. And is starting to run masterclasses for parents (you can sign up for the first one below under valuable resources!)   BEST MOMENTS   “Giving an alternative to the glossy, picture perfect version of mother we often see”   “My daughter asked me why I was weighing spinach and I didn't have an answer for her...if this is what I have to do to make my body look like this then maybe this isn't what my body is supposed to look like”   “The mainstream narrative is still that thin is best”   “We've never had a plus-size princess”   “It's quite liberating not thinking about your body”   VALUABLE RESOURCES Molly's IG:@mollyjforbes Molly's Podcast Body Cons The Body Happy Kids workshops for teachers and youth leaders that Molly runs:  https://www.freefromdiets.org/body-happy-kids-workshop The first Body Happy Kids Masterclass (for parents and any adults who are ever around kids! Happening 30th Jan 2021 - waiting list now open):  https://www.freefromdiets.org/masterclass https://www.freefromdiets.org/shop www.petalscharity.org www.tommys.org www.arc-uk.org www.sands.org.uk (Additional resources from Molly Forbes under 'Additional Resources below)   ABOUT THE GUEST Molly J Forbes Body happy mum. A writer, campaigner and creator of workshops and podcasts. Molly's IG:@mollyjforbes Molly's Podcast Body Cons     ABOUT THE HOST Zoe Cresswell Devoted mother of two (and a big hairy dog), UK trained midwife, doula and personal trainer, specialising in pre and postnatal fitness. Zoe was born in the UK and before moving to Dubai in 2013 and worked as a midwife in central London, both in a birth centre and a very busy NHS hospital. Although late to the scene, Zoe is an aspiring athlete having won numerous triathlons and representing Great Britain where she placed within the top 10 on the world stage. With her husband James, the couple will soon be launching their cloth nappy company, Bop & Bee, where they hope to inspire families to swap a few disposable nappies a day for the more planet friendly option of cloth. Zoe's goal is to share her knowledge and experience, tell real life stories, manage expectations and open up those often difficult conversations. Zoe's own motherhood journey has been full of twists and turns as she put everything on hold and went through numerous miscarriages and rounds of IVF.   CONTACT DETAILS Instagram : @zoecresswell_me Facebook: Zoe Cresswell LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/zoe-cresswell   ADDITIONAL VALUABLE RESOURCES Books that are a great introduction to the subject of body image / health / weight stigma and how it intersects with other social justice issues. For Adults: Health At Every Size by Lindo (formerly Linda) Bacon PhD Fearing the Black Body by Sabrina Strings  Train Happy by Tally Rye Big Fit Girl by Louise Green Just Eat It by Laura Thomas PhD Happy Fat by Sofie Hagen  The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf Body Positive Power by Megan Jayne Crabbe Anti Diet by Christy Harrison MPH, RD   Books that are great for kids / teens:  You Are Enough by Harri Rose (for teens and adults)  Celebrate Your Body (and it's changes too!) by Sonya Renee Taylor (a body positive guide for girls aged 8+) Jemima Small Versus the Universe by Tamsin Winter It's Okay to be Different by Todd Parr Her Body Can, by Katie Crenshaw and Ady Meschke Shapesville by Andy Mills and Becky Osborn   Podcasts:  Body Cons (Molly's!) Don't Salt My Game  Food Psych Appearance Matters  Train Happy  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week Tally is answering your questions about how to know when the difference between when it's a Diet and the Diet Mentality or if it's Intuitive Eating . We also delve into how to navigate family members exposing Children to Diet culture and how to set boundaries around that. Email in your Questions to: trainhappypodcast@gmail.com Question 1 resources: Intuitive Eating 4th Edition by Evelyn Tribole & Elyse Resch. Episode #14: Intuitive Eating Myth Busting with Evelyn Tribole Question 2 resources: Episode #17: How to navigate Diet talk and set boundaries with Michelle Elman. Episode #25: Raising Body Happy Kids with Molly Forbes www.freefromdiets.org Episode #5: Building Body Image Resilience with Lindsay & Lexie Kite of Beauty Redefined www.morethanabody.org

This week i am joined by writer, speaker and campaigner Molly Forbes to discuss how motherhood changed her approach to health and wellbeing and how it launched her campaign #freefromdiets. Molly speaks honestly about the pressures of motherhood and ‘snapping back' as well as her work to change the messaging around weight, health and bodies that children receive. To learn more about Happy Body Kids and the #freefromdietscampaign: www.freefromdiets.org www.instagram.com/mollyjforbes

In this episode we speak with Molly Forbes who is a podcaster, presenter and blogger. Molly presented Channel 4's Naked Beach, has appeared on BBC Breakfast, ITV's This Morning, Sunrise on Sky News, BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat, BBC Radio Wales, as well as hosting many successful events, campaigns to spread the message that we should be confident and comfortable within our own skins. We look at Mollys successful workshop - Body Happy Kids - which primary campaign is to change the way diets and weight loss products are marketed around children, specifically to end the promotion of diet clubs around schools and kids' clubs. 

Presenter, campaigner and writer Molly Forbes is also a mum to two young daughters. Molly started the #FreeFromDiets campaign after being inundated with examples of diet companies using schools and kids' clubs as recruitment grounds for new members. A former journalist and radio presenter, Molly co-hosts the hit podcast Body Cons, was a host on Channel 4's body positive show Naked Beach and regularly appears on TV and radio discussing body image. Molly is passionate about being part of the change when it comes to creating a body happy world for her children and future generations. Molly is a disco queen and is partial to the odd kitchen disco which certainly keeps spirits up whilst we are all in lockdown! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/femaleleaderswithcourage/message