Recently, our daughter has been asking for food every day, making the following statement:

"I need a Buddha Belly, please!"

We asked her what that meant. She pulled up her top to expose her tummy. She pushed her tummy out as far as it would go and said, "See? When I eat enough food I get a Buddha Belly!" Then she laughed and laughed. (We assume she heard this statement on a television program at some point.)

My husband said, "Is that a good thing?" To which I replied, "Are you kidding? Soon enough the media and the magazines and the online photos of young celebrities will tell her she needs to be skinny. She'll soon feel as though she is supposed to look more like the underfed models and the hungry famous women adorning the newspaper covers. Why would we stop this? It's terrific!"

He agreed.

So every day our daughter laughs and says, "Can I please get a Buddha Belly?" And we reply, "Why, yes. You can! When your tummy is full and you feel content, that's a wonderful thing. Don't you wish EVERYONE could have a Buddha Belly?"

I do.

ABOUT the Author:

Shara Lawrence-Weiss is the owner of Mommy Perks, Personal Child Stories, Early Childhood News and Resources and Kids Perks. She has a background in education, early childhood, nanny work, published freelance, marketing and special needs.