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A 7 year old worried about being "fat?" Where on earth would such a comment come from?
School. Because of some people's obsession with the "obesity crisis," we're forcing the schools to do things like teach body awareness, measure BMI in kindergarten, incorporate all the stuff from the fitness cult into curriculum's. Kids are being denied soft drinks, sugary snacks, "unhealthy" foods like hamburgers and pizza's, all of which sends a message to children that slim and trim is "good" and overweight is "bad."
In short, by allowing the Nanny-stater's to force our children to fit their mold, we're in the process of creating an entire generation of future anorexic's and bulimic's and teaching them that intolerance toward overweight people is acceptable because,...well....because they're fat. Not only that, but we're allowing them to teach that vanity is OK too.
Do we really want this? Is the "obesity crisis" a good enough excuse to turn your children and grandchildren into adults who may never accept themselves just as they are?
Nothing in the article indicates the child got the idea from school. It does mention that two girls told her she was "kind of fat" at the pool. Kids have called other kids fat long before public schools got involved in health awareness.
Soda has been out of the schools for some time now, before this obesity crisis.
And yes, at that age (7) what they tell them at school does have a bigger impact than MSM.
They took the slushy machine out of our school cafeteria. We still have an ala carte section, in addition to the main line, plus a french fry area where the kids can buy chicken sandwiches, fries, pizza, hamburgers, etc. It's only the main line $1.35 (or free/reduced) lunch that monitors the fat, and boy are they getting strict! However, the kids have an option to buy a "double lunch" (2 of everything) for $2.70. (I cook for a jr./sr. high school cafeteria).
I saw a clip on the news of a public service announcement (from the state of Georgia, I think it was), where a chunky looking kid says, "Mom, why am I fat?", and then it shows him sitting on a chair facing his mother, who's 300 pounds if she's an ounce.
The issue is not an obsession on obesity but that a normal child has a misperception. There are far too many children that are significantly overweight. This story is about a very well educated mother that would likely limit the processed foods in her house.
I would bet the entire family has little fat.
Now contrast that to the people that think McDonalds is a good choice for feeding anyone. then look at the comparative BMI's
We have a mass of people that have no clue how to feed themselves, much less children.
Obesity is a problem in this country. Bad/incorrect body images is simply another one.
Do we really want this? Is the "obesity crisis" a good enough excuse to turn your children and grandchildren into adults who may never accept themselves just as they are?
Teaching children healthy habits doesn't turn them into adults who can't accept themselves. Many overweight adults are overweight due to unhealthy lifetime habits. Don't even start with they have medical conditions because often the weight caused the medical condition.
I totally agree with AONE that the problem is many Americans have an inaccurate image of what is normal weight. I'll never forget when the airlines started charging for an extra seat if someone couldn't fit into one seat with the arm rests down. There was a man on the news proclaiming that the seats were overly small, that "even he couldn't fit into them" AS IF he wasn't overweight. He truly believed he wasn't overweight and that he was normal body size. But he was obviously overweight.
When I was a kid, the children who are considered "normal weight" today were the overweight kids forty years ago. When I read posts about people complaining that some kids in their neighborhood look too thin and sickly, I can't help but remember that all kids looked that way generations ago.
A 7 year old worried about being "fat?" Where on earth would such a comment come from?
School. Because of some people's obsession with the "obesity crisis," we're forcing the schools to do things like teach body awareness, measure BMI in kindergarten, incorporate all the stuff from the fitness cult into curriculum's. Kids are being denied soft drinks, sugary snacks, "unhealthy" foods like hamburgers and pizza's, all of which sends a message to children that slim and trim is "good" and overweight is "bad."
In short, by allowing the Nanny-stater's to force our children to fit their mold, we're in the process of creating an entire generation of future anorexic's and bulimic's and teaching them that intolerance toward overweight people is acceptable because,...well....because they're fat. Not only that, but we're allowing them to teach that vanity is OK too.
Do we really want this? Is the "obesity crisis" a good enough excuse to turn your children and grandchildren into adults who may never accept themselves just as they are?
I don't share your outrage. I see nothing wrong with a child being aware of her body. I would rather encourage her to make healthy food choices at 7 than to have to watch her attempt to diet at 12. Overweight IS bad.
And, good for the schools for removing junk from the cafeteria. When I was in school our dessert choice was limited to jello. There was no soda, no chips, no candy. Those things were reserved for special occasions at home.
I do not agree with schools measuring the BMI of students and sending it home on the report card though ( I think AZ was the state that was doing it). While it might be beneficial to lower income parents who can't afford regular checkups with a pediatrician, I doubt the benefits would outweigh the possibility of taunting from other kids.
Educating our children about health awareness is not the same as teaching them intolerance. Some people can carry that over but it doesn't have to be that way.
I think my own generation and a few other post WWII generations would have benefited greatly by nutrition studies and more emphasis on less sugar, smaller portion size and healthy eating. Fast food will be the death of way too many people.
I see nothing wrong with the components of health awareness education the OP is complaining about.
And to put "obesity crisis" in quotation marks makes it seem OP doesn't take this seriously.
Diabetes is not fun. Just yesterday I was told to have my big toe amputated because of severe infection which won't clear up because of diabetes. Maybe I should put "toe amputated" in quotes too.
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