Mother is angry after her first grade daughter was given a ‘body-shaming’ homework assignment to ‘identify a fat person’
(Meredith) – A Kentucky mother said she believes a worksheet that her first-grade daughter brought home from school promotes body-shaming.
Laura Lee Lewis, of Laurel County, said her daughter completed the assignment for her reading class at London Elementary School.
The assignment asked students to identify the adjective “fat” by circling an image of a girl who fit the description, WKYT reported. Lewis told the news outlet it’s not merely the word she’s upset about.
“The way they illustrated it, it bothered me more than anything. Big girl being put on display just really hurt,” said Lewis. “They could have used an animal. I gave an example of a cupcake. They could have even used that, a bigger cupcake or a little cupcake, and say ‘Which one is fat?'”
After reviewing the assignment, Lewis said she had an important conversation with her daughter.
“I had to explain to her that it was body-shaming,” she said. “Even if it was a skinny girl or the example of skinny, I feel like it would still be body-shaming that person because some don’t want to be called that.”
The Laurel County Board of Education later released a statement to WKYT, saying it’s looking into the matter.
“We were notified yesterday via news media of this concern. We have not had any parent report this concern to us,” the statement reads. “However, we are reviewing the curriculum to identify the concern.”
Lewis said she is not blaming the teachers, but she believes the curriculum should be checked to make sure it’s not offensive.
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