ABSTRACT
After exploring the various responses, it is clear that the problem of dealing with a daughter who wants to diet, or is already dieting, is fraught with complications and implications that can seem overwhelming. Deciding how to respond to your daughter's weight problem, whether or not she asks for your help, involves addressing your own thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors. Parental attitudes and expectations are critical in influencing young girls who want to diet. In the past few years, parents have increasingly been bringing their elementary-school-age daughters to my clinic for "diet consultations" and/ or eating disorder treatment. Sad as it is, legitimate cases of the primary eating disorders, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, are occurring in younger and younger children.
