Mum stops reading children’s book to daughter because of ‘the message it sends’

Do you think it's inappropriate?

There are plenty of books that would be inappropriate to read to a child. Some of these include 50 Shades of Gray, the DaVinci Code, and that one Lemony Snicket book towards the end of the series purely because it's narratively weak and no one should bother no matter how old you are. The general consensus is though that children's books are suitable for children. However, one mum found a book from The Large Family series to be inappropriate to read to her four-year-old daughter. The mum, known only as 'Happyland8' on Mumsnet, said that she didn't like the message being sent by Jill Murphy's A Piece Of Cake.  She said that when she started reading the book to her daughter, she stopped on page one. She wrote:

"We started reading it last night and I stopped on page 1 and said we'd do a different book. "I've read this whole book and really dislike the message it sends. The mum decides she's fat, the family go on a diet and then in the end they eat the cake and decide that elephants are meant to be fat. "I'm very careful about what I say in front of (her), for example, if I wasn't feeling great about my size, I wouldn't say 'I look/feel fat.'"

The mum went on to ask whether people thought she was being unreasonable or not. Many parents thought that the book did an excellent job of presenting different body sizes and showing that it was OK not to be entirely slim. "I don't want my children to grow up thinking that having hang ups or feeling anything less than completely confident is wrong or something to be ashamed of and kept quiet," wrote one person. "I read The Large Family books to my 5 children and they're all slim healthy and happy. And I never dressed my son in a pink tutu," said another. However, others argued that parents shouldn't talk to their children about body sizes, healthy foods, or 'fat shaming' so young. So, what do you think - is it worth bringing these issues up with young children?