You're right there is a better way to do this!
Have a look at the FragmentPagerAdapter javadoc online and you'll see there is a method setPrimaryItem(ViewGroup container, int position, Object object):void doing exactly what you need.
From the javadoc
public void setPrimaryItem (ViewGroup container, int position, Object object)
Called to inform the adapter of which item is currently considered to
be the "primary", that is the one show to the user as the current
page.
Parameters container The containing View from which the page will be
removed. position The page position that is now the primary.
object The same object that was returned by instantiateItem(View,
int).
Note on scroll state
Now if you implement this and start debugging to get a feel of when exactly this is called you'll quickly notice this is triggered several times on preparing the fragment and while the user is swiping along.
So it might be a good idea to also attach a ViewPager.OnPageChangeListener and only do what has to be done once the viewpagers scroll state becomes SCOLL_STATE_IDLE again.