Every day Irene ate a bowl of ice cream. That wasn't so bad, but she didn't stop at ice cream. She ate a bowl of chocolate chips, a candy bar, a bag of potato crisps and three bottles of sugary soda pop.

“Irene, you have to stop eating so much junk food. You're getting chubby,” her mama warned.

Irene didn't want to be chubby, but she loved eating so much and she couldn't stop. Irene's favorite thing to do was to go into her back garden and play on her swing. She would push with her legs and go high in the air.

One day, after eating a bowl of strawberry pecan ice cream, she went to play on her swing. She sat down, but couldn't fit. The ropes holding the swing squeezed into her legs and it was tight and uncomfortable. “The swing doesn't fit. Mama!” She ran into the house. “Mama, the swing doesn't fit. It grew small. I can't swing.” She fell into a pile and cried.

Mama looked out the window and saw the swing. It was the same swing as before. She told Irene to sit up. “Irene, I want to talk to you. The swing didn't shrink. You are chubby. You have eaten so many bad foods that now you can't even swing. Do you think it's time to stop eating bad food and eat good food?”

Irene looked at the swing. “Yes, Mama. I won't eat any more ice cream, or potato crisps or soda pop any more.”

“You can eat the things you love, Irene, just don't eat them all at the same time. One day have ice cream; the next day have a bowl of chocolate chips. I have another good idea. Why don't you and I go for a walk every day to the park. We can feed the ducks and fly a kite.”

“I'd love to do that, Mama.” From then on Irene was more careful about what she ate. She ate carrots and apples and pears. Every day she had a small sweet and then she and her mama went for a walk. After a few weeks Irene fit back in her swing and had fun playing on it every day and nobody ever called her Chubby Irene again.