Resources for (and About) Fat Kids
Radiance Magazine's Kids Project features essays, personal stories, and resources for parents, teachers, and anyone else concerned about raising kids with healthy self-esteem and positive self-images.
The excellent Tolerance.org site has this article for parents called Making Room For Size Acceptance. No Laughing Matter, from their Teaching Tolerance magazine, is a discussion of size discrimination and harassment and its effects on kids. And Fat...So? is another good Tolerance.org article for educators on promoting health and size acceptance.
Another good article is Teaching Children About Size Acceptance, from the March/April 2004 issue of Mothering magazine. It includes a bibliography of materials for parents and kids.
The University of California, Berkeley's Center for Weight and Health has some good materials for parents, educators and kids on developing healthy body image.
Parents of Fat Kids is a new Yahoo group that offers support for parents and their larger children and teens. This is a Health at Every Size (HAES), size acceptance-oriented group that does not discuss or endorse pursuing weight loss. Instead, they support parents in cherishing their children at any weight, living and communicating the message that all sizes of bodies are good and need good care, and in helping their children deal with weight-based stigma. Members also help each other deal with sources of weight-based stigma that affect their kids, including schools, healthcare, and legal discrimination.
In response to recent school violence and hate crime incidents, the National Education Association is promoting this No-Taunting Pledge. It's their hope that schools will ask students to take the pledge, and to impress upon them how important it is to be tolerant and accepting of differences. They believe that accepting diversity is one key way to ending violence among young people.
Extra Hip is an online zine aimed at plus-size teen girls.
New Moon is a magazine aimed at girls ages 8 to 14. Among their many positive and intelligent features, they promote an annual "Turn Beauty Inside Out Day" that celebrates media images that promote healthy body image and expand the definition of what makes people beautiful.
As mainstream magazines for teenage girls go, YM is one of the better ones. They have an editorial policy that against diet articles, and they say they're seeking to feature a wider range of body types in their photo spreads.
Plus Size Teen Directory lists resources for fat teens--clothing, chat rooms, magazines, modeling opportunities, and more.
Plus Size Teen Fashions--For Prom and Beyond is a pretty good article about shopping for fat teen girls. It includes some links to relevant websites.
Mahalo makes cute, cuddly hand puppets of happy, chubby figures--mermaids, princesses, knights, dragons, storybook characters, and lots more.
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