I'm doing well... April hasn't been the best month for me weight-loss-wise, but I'm okay with that. After busting my tail at the beginning of the month to finish up that weight loss competition (we placed 3rd, which did not come with a prize), I felt so burned out on diet and exercise that I relaxed a bit with my strictness. I kept up my healthy eating, but I've had a few cheats this month which is really unlike me. One of those cheats was really worth it, though, so that's okay. :)
Today in the grocery store, I overheard a conversation between and mother and her teenaged daughter that really bugged me. The girl was probably 14 years old... she was cute and seemed at a healthy weight to me. I don't know how they got into the conversation of the girl's weight, but I heard her mother tell her that they had an agreement about her weight that she wasn't keeping up with. The girl said "but you keep telling me that I'm fat." And the mom said "because you are." Because you are. It took everything in me not to say something to that mother. She could stand to lose weight herself, and here she was saying something so horrible to her daughter who obviously doesn't need to lose weight. The girl got angry and said to her mother, "I only weigh 100 pounds... are you not going to be happy until I'm 80 pounds? What do you want from me? To be anorexic?" The mom started telling her not to speak to her that way. The girl was upset... and I could tell that this wasn't the first conversation like this that they'd had.
I was a heavy child and my parents weren't so nice to me about it. They would tell me that I needed to lose weight and they would tell me to go on a diet. What does a 10 year old know about dieting? All a kid knows is about eating the food that is brought into their home... eating the food that is prepared by their parents. If parents wants their child to eat better, it is their responsibility to bring better foods into the home... to cook healthy meals and pack healthy lunches for their children. Children learn their eating habits from their parents. If parents want their children to exercise, they need to teach by example and exercise too. They need to plan activities where the family is being active together. My parents didn't understand this... neither does the mom at the grocery store... and neither do lots of other parents today. It's really sad.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
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9 comments:
That sounds awful.
That is terrible. That just breaks my heart knowing what she must be going through
Thats so heartbreaking.
that is hearbreaking:( don't you wish you could just say something to the mom, or to the girl? Sigh..but if you did you'd be interfering.
blah.
YOU however are doing so awesome! I can't wait to see how you kick butt in May!
You pic looks great- congrats on 1 year down, the rest of your life to go! YOU ROCK and should be proud of yourself :-)
it sounds like the girl in this case was a healthy weight, and the mom was projecting her own issues on the girl.
BUT... I do know from my own kids that there are eating issues that don't have a heck of a lot to do with the food in the house. At school my kids' school lunches are AWFUL... everything is breaded and fried. Salads are soupy with dressing. Veggies swim in fake butter.
Because of our income, we rely on the school breakfast and lunch program. I know that kids can gain a lot of weight through the inactivity and unhealthy food choices the schools offer. Many schools are reducing or eliminating physical education... some physical education is purely classroom based. In our local schools, elementary kids are not allowed to run or play tag because schools are concerned about tripping and falling.
It's easy to blame overweight kids on the parents... but let's look at where the kids spend most of the day and do most of their eating: at schools.
Schools also are going whole hog on bringing in advertising and product placement money, so the halls are filled with soda machines, pseudo juice machines, and even snack vending machines. School lunches are covered with advertising for kid targeted food products which CLAIM to be healthy... cute little apple cartoon characters selling chocolate covered granola bars and sugar enhanced "fruit" roll ups... not to mention sugary cereals!
I hate it when parents pressure their children like that. You can encourage a healthy lifestyle by making sure that the meals available at home are healthy and encouraging activity eithout hammering home negative insecurities.If anything, telling her that is going to make her fat.
That is a sad story, I can't imagine a mother doing that to her child, my word! I would have been tempted to say something, too.
My mom did that shit to me. She would NOT leave me alone, and was a horrible, nasty woman. I wasn't fat, I just grew some damn boobs. I'm fat now, though! And resentful.
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