PlayIsTheWork.com

I am not moralistic about being overweight.  As someone who grew up big and works hard at maintaining a size 16 (until recently my children thought I disliked ice cream, that’s how seldom I eat it), I look at weight as a practical matter.  Being judged hurts and challenges, but it doesn’t make a person any thinner.  I know. My problem is that when I see a really chubby kid, a great person with wonderful qualities, being given blatantly unhealthy food at an age when she can’t say no or choose something else, I get angry.  It’s not that I think anyone’s bad, but I do think they’re being neglectful.  And like watching a kid being spanked in the grocery store or yelled at in the park, I want to march right over and tell that parent to shape up. 

It’s not a great way to feel.  And I’m wondering if anyone else feels the same way.  And if so, is there anything constructive we can do about it?  Obviously, people have the right to give their kids whatever they choose to eat.  And lots of kids seek out bad nutrition — that’s a big part of being a kid, as I recall.  I have a hard time getting my two girls to eat anything green, or anything that’s not a carb, to be honest.  But I try.  I do try.  I know what it means to be a fat girl, and on top of that, what it does to one’s health — as we’re all learning every time we read the paper or watch the news. I don’t want that suffering for any of our precious kids.  I’m hoping as we all become better educated about the topic, some of these busy, loving, overwhelmed moms and dads will consider the impact of their actions.  In the meantime, I’m writing this blog instead of lecturing, knowing that defensiveness is not a positive motivator, and that none of us is perfect.  

I just hope that as time goes on, practical problem-solvers that we are, we’ll make some better choices for these lives we’re responsible for.