#58: Parenting without diet culture

with Oona Hanson

listen here

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In this episode we discuss…

  • Oona’s background and what led her to coach parents on raising kids who have a healthy relationship with food and body

  • single gender education

  • how diet culture is so normalized that it’s essentially invisible

  • the benefit of a moment of “repair” with your child after a mistake

  • suggestions for how families can begin to identify diet culture

  • why health and wellness culture can make it tricky to identify insidious aspects of diet culture

  • handling memes and jokes about weight gain during the pandemic

  • helping your kids recognize, name, and externalize diet culture in daily life

  • questions to help your kids think critically about and name diet culture

  • responding to parents’ concerns about kids increased snacking during the pandemic

  • Leslie’s experience noticing diet culture in her kids’ school curriculum

  • Oona’s advice for parents who want to communicate concerns to teachers about diet culture

  • finding the balance between making our homes a safe haven from diet culture and raising kids with resilience to handle inevitable exposure

  • Adele’s “transformation” and talking to kids about before-and-after photos

  • suggestions for how to take a calm, curious approach rather than a top-down, lecturing style

  • oona’s answer to the million dollar question

Parent coach and educator Oona Hanson joins us for a conversation about our real-life experiences parenting without diet culture. Leslie and Oona talk about their strategies for helping kids of varied ages learn to recognize and externalize diet culture, handling memes about weight gain, when diet culture and fatphobia sneak into the school curriculum, snacking during quarantine, Adele and celebrity “glow-ups,” and more.

Get our guide to body-positive parenting.

 

Oona Hanson is an educator and parent coach in Los Angeles. She holds a Master’s Degree in Educational Psychology from California State University Northridge and a Master’s Degree in English from Middlebury College. Passionate about protecting children's relationship with food and their bodies, Oona runs the public Facebook page “Parenting Without Diet Culture." She gives parent workshops on a range of topics, including body image resilience and eating disorder prevention. She is also a mother of two: a 17-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son.

Connect with Oona on her website, Twitter, Facebook, and instagram.

Resources mentioned or recommended:

Jordan Best