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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2012/sep/17/slimming-children-talking-harold-williamson
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| Child's big round circle portrait sends teacher to the slimming club | Child's big round circle portrait sends teacher to the slimming club |
| (30 days later) | |
| There used to be a great radio and then TV programme called Children Talking, which was just that: no adult gloss or chirrupy come-backs, just the views and theories of small children about the world, told with wild imagination sometimes, but always with gravity and logic. | There used to be a great radio and then TV programme called Children Talking, which was just that: no adult gloss or chirrupy come-backs, just the views and theories of small children about the world, told with wild imagination sometimes, but always with gravity and logic. |
| One such mite has come to the rescue of the health of a teaching assistant in Newcastle-upon-Tyne whose family and friends were too kind to make comments as her weight ballooned to 19-and-a-half stone. | One such mite has come to the rescue of the health of a teaching assistant in Newcastle-upon-Tyne whose family and friends were too kind to make comments as her weight ballooned to 19-and-a-half stone. |
| That is big for anyone, especially a 5ft 1in woman of 39 who fell into a worsening circle of getting fatter, wanting more to eat and doing less and less. So it might have gone on, had it not been for one of those fun school events where children draw pictures of their teachers, for the classroom wall or a fund-raising dishcloth. | That is big for anyone, especially a 5ft 1in woman of 39 who fell into a worsening circle of getting fatter, wanting more to eat and doing less and less. So it might have gone on, had it not been for one of those fun school events where children draw pictures of their teachers, for the classroom wall or a fund-raising dishcloth. |
| One honest little kid at Falla Park school in Gateshead's Felling area where Leandra lives and works drew her as simply a big round circle. The picture, innocently offered without any malice, shocked the mother-of-two out of a world of self-delusion in which, she tells the Newcastle Evening Chronicle: | One honest little kid at Falla Park school in Gateshead's Felling area where Leandra lives and works drew her as simply a big round circle. The picture, innocently offered without any malice, shocked the mother-of-two out of a world of self-delusion in which, she tells the Newcastle Evening Chronicle: |
| I was unhappy about my weight but I would never talk about it. I convinced myself I wasn't as big as I was. | I was unhappy about my weight but I would never talk about it. I convinced myself I wasn't as big as I was. |
| The secret of Children Talking was the skill of its presenter Harold Williamson, a journalist from county Durham, who used to answer inquiries about his rapport with children by saying: | The secret of Children Talking was the skill of its presenter Harold Williamson, a journalist from county Durham, who used to answer inquiries about his rapport with children by saying: |
| I don't talk to them; I listen to them. | I don't talk to them; I listen to them. |
Mrs Reay listened to her pupil's point, or at least took the point visually, because the child had not actually needed to use words. She says: | Mrs Reay listened to her pupil's point, or at least took the point visually, because the child had not actually needed to use words. She says: |
| You think children don't make judgements but they actually do notice. | You think children don't make judgements but they actually do notice. |
| Most children also have a strong sense of justice and fair play, and this has again been borne out in Leandra's classroom at Falla Park. After enlisting with Slimming World, which has made her one its Women of the Year, she has lost 9st 12lbs and takes size 8 clothing instead of size 22. She is also safely in the stick-people section of the children's drawings of staff. She says: | Most children also have a strong sense of justice and fair play, and this has again been borne out in Leandra's classroom at Falla Park. After enlisting with Slimming World, which has made her one its Women of the Year, she has lost 9st 12lbs and takes size 8 clothing instead of size 22. She is also safely in the stick-people section of the children's drawings of staff. She says: |
| The same pupil drew a new picture of me recently and said: This is you Miss Reay because you're skinny now'. It keeps you going. | The same pupil drew a new picture of me recently and said: This is you Miss Reay because you're skinny now'. It keeps you going. |
| Here's a YouTube clip of Harold Williamson chatting on the radio to children about where babies come from (one says: "Chester"), money, politics and even (very sensibly) journalism. | Here's a YouTube clip of Harold Williamson chatting on the radio to children about where babies come from (one says: "Chester"), money, politics and even (very sensibly) journalism. |
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