Thank goodness for our cultural critics, who are currently busy ensuring that our children are not exposed to dangerous advice such as . . . “go do some exercise.” Here’s the BBC:

An episode of a popular children’s television programme has been edited amid claims of “fat-shaming”.

The latest instalment of Bluey, which was broadcast on ABC in Australia, showed the title character’s parents complaining about their weight.
Critics said the show could lead to young viewers developing worries about their own bodies.

An ABC spokesperson said the episode had been edited and the new version would be distributed globally.
Bluey, about a puppy and her family, is shown on ABC, Disney+ and BBC children’s channel CBeebies.

The episode, Exercise, begins with Bluey’s father, Bandit, weighing himself while Bluey is in the bath.

“Oh man … I just need to do some exercise,” Bandit says.

“Tell me about it,” Bluey’s mother, Chilli, replies.

Bandit looks at himself in the mirror, holding his sides.

“Why don’t you just do some exercise?” Bluey asks.

That section of the show has now been cut after some parents and health experts raised concerns on social media about body-shaming.

This is ludicrous. There is pretty much no circumstance in which “Why don’t you just do some exercise?” is a bad question to ask, or in which “I just need to do some exercise” is a destructive thing to say. Exercise is good for you. If you weigh yourself on a scale and conclude that you ought to go for a run, you’re probably right.

Nor is it bad for people to notice that they are getting heavier than they wish to be. I don’t know about the word “shame” — which, I’d note, was used here by the show’s critics, not by its writers — but it is certainly a good thing for people to be aware of the state of their bodies. Objectively speaking, it is better to be slim than to be fat. Obesity is bad for your health, and, in the long term, it is fatal. Children should know that — even if, when they grow up, they decide that they don’t care.