[lsee]

It's hard work being my children's moral gatekeeper and sometimes I'm unpopular at home, but the payoff will be worth it, I hope, when my kids grow up believing their souls are more important than their bodies, in spite of the media's twisted propaganda to the contrary!

[twigs]

It is hard work, isn't it? I have a on-the-heavy-side 18-year-old daughter. She is large-boned, not fat, but she goes to school with skinny-minnies. We've been working on this for years. I keep telling her, and I do think it's working, that she is never going to be skinny, so basically get over driving herself crazy. God made her that way and in fact, she's gorgeous. She has learned to dress for her figure and is learning to appreciate modest decorum. But she does need to watch what she eats. No diets, just careful eating habits. And exercise. When I picked her up from school after a horrible day last week and she wanted an ice cream sundae (an unusual request from her), I told her absolutely not--never indulge emotions with food. She got mad, but it's best not to start. Normally she eats very sensibly. You can raise kids in this environment, but it's not easy, as you say!