Wow, that's a tough one. One one hand, it's good for people to not hear the candy-coated version of what's going on. I think it's important for the doctors to be frank and honest at least with the parents, because they have more influence on the kids' food and lifestyle choices. I don't want to place all the blame on parents, though, because I've never been the parent of an obese child and I don't feel I can accurately judge the situation.
On the other hand, a child feeling ashamed of obesity might do more damage than good. The younger the age, the less the kid is to blame. Society, media, parents/family, schools, all play a part in forming beliefs about food and exercise ... based on most American lifestyles that I've seen, it's a no-brainer that obesity is an issue.
I was an obese child. I was skinny until shortly before kindergarten. I was adopted as an infant, and the only member in the (adopted) family to be obese as a child. Mom and grandma were overweight, but had gained weight in middle age. My younger brother (also adopted, not biologically related to me) and younger sisters (my parents bio kids) also were not overweight as children. It was very clear to me early on, that I was not like nearly everyone else on the planet.
I was very aware of being fat, and very aware of adult attempts to "fix" me, and sensing that it was very bad to be fat and that adults blamed me and/or my mom. I remember Mom being very defensive about my weight, trying to prove it wasn't her fault. In kindergarten she bribed with a promise of pet turtles to diet (turtles I never got, because turtles became illegal as pets before I lost the 8 lbs I needed to lose to be "normal").
It was the 70's and still nearly the dark ages in terms of what was considered healthy dieting.
Medical terminology was the very least of my traumas related to being fat as a child. I think kids can handle the blunt truth if they're allowed to be active participants in learning and practicing healthier behavior, without blame being thrown around.
phantastica , 06-12-2007 05:18 PM
