[Altari]

A societal rant.

Someone sent me a link to a vid on a site I'd never been to before. So I poked around and found one that says "Fat girl owned by treadmill". The girl is like 9 years old and overweight. And some people were posting the obvious - This is WHY our daughters have huge body image problems. Other people were posting other things - She's totally fat! and so on.

I feel so bad for these girls. I remember being pudgy in 3rd grade. Kids made fun of me, I couldn't wear clothes my girlfriends wore. It was terrible. I was 8 and I had a body image problem. When I grew 6 inches in 2 years, I wasn't pudgy anymore [the fat went away, but the body image problems stayed]. I've read articles about how some kids are getting shorter, when they should be getting taller. Maybe it's because at 6, 7, 8 years old, these kids are taught that "thin is in" and starve themselves to be rail-like.

I call my 5 year old my "big booty girl". She has curves - lots of them (at 5, jeebus), just like me. My 3 year old is a stick, just like my husband. She always thought the term was cute, until another little girl at school commented on how "fat" she was. AT FIVE. Something's seriously wrong with our culture...

[Robin41]

First I question any parent who would put a video of their kid on the web and subject them to the public.

Secondly, your 5 year old doesn't have curves. 5 year olds don't have curves. What she is is chubby and a nickname like Big Booty Girl was never destined to be cute for very long.

I understand that you think it's cute but you remember personally how hard it is to be chubby as a kid but somehow you think your kid would escape that if only society was nicer. Kids say what pops into their little heads; you might change some adults but kids are always going to be blunt.

[Altari]

It wasn't the parent that put it up. It was the sister.

The nickname got started because my granny kept calling my 3 year old her "skinny minnie". My 5 year old got upset because she didn't have a nickname. One day my mom said "You have a butt, something women in this family only dream of!" She then asked if she was our "Big booty girl" (I think that started after a E! report on bootlicious).

And no, it wouldn't be cute for long. And while kids say the first thing that pops into their heads, someone has to teach them these things. Someone has to teach them about "fat" vs "thin", and how to use those terms in a negative light. So where does the 5 year old learn to have an obsessive compulsive attitude towards weight? Most likely her mother.

I would also like to add that you don't know my 5 year old. Yes, she does have curves. Not in the same was 15 year old does, but an hourglass figure it curvy, whether it's on a 5 year old or a 50 year old.

[lumifan4ever]

My middle DD is a little overweight.She's 8. Luckily, i don't think any kids have picked on her but my ex-s mother has told her that we need to put her on a diet. OH THAT MAKES ME SO MAD!!!! I tell my DD all the time how beautiful she is on the inside and the outside and how smart and kind and considerate and giving she is. That she has sooo many wonderful qualities. And that she is NOT fat. That her dear mimi has issues with weight. That everytime we went over as a family to her house for dinner, ALL the women sat around compareing who had lost the most weight. I tell her not to listen to mimi when she says things like that, listen to momma.

And really, she doesn't eat anything much at all. School breakfast, school lunches, and really not very much at dinner. And she prefers water at dinner over sweet teas.

And if i were that childs mother, i would whip her sister for putting such a thing on the web for people to make comments. And how dare people pick on a 9 year old girl...who maybe is actually trying to do something good for herself. I seriously don't understand people who are so cruel to others...especially children.

[PhotoChick]

I've read articles about how some kids are getting shorter, when they should be getting taller. Maybe it's because at 6, 7, 8 years old, these kids are taught that "thin is in" and starve themselves to be rail-like.

i'm of a different opinion ... I have read things and believe that the reason childhood obesity is epidemic and that kids are, in fact, getting shorter, is because of the CRAPPY NUTRITION kids get.

Even when I was growing up, the option to eat nothing but junk all day simply wasn't there. I know kids today who eat nothing but junk. Seriously. I have a friend - a dear friend who I simply do not discuss this with any more because I don't want to end our friendship over it - but here's an average day for her daughter:

Morning: Pop tarts, juice
Snack: fruit gummies, goldfish, maybe string cheese
Lunch: McDonalds kids meal (or Chic-fil-a, or whatever is closest at the time)
Snack: more goldfish, sunchips, etc.
Dinner: "Blue Dinner" (kids TV dinner from which she picks some stuff and eats the dessert)
Post Dinner: (the mommy I'm hungry cause I didn't eat all my Blue Dinner meal) chocolate fudgecicle, kids yogurt (loaded with sugar).

I've asked my friend - why not keep raisins around for a snack? Or grapes? Or whatever. She "doesn't have time" to cut up grapes. And her daughter won't eat raisins. And ... and ... and ... and ...! The short of it is, that it's easier for her to run thru the drive through or open a package of chips than it is to plan ahead healthy meals and snacks for her daughter.

And she's not my only friend who does this with her kids. I'd say of all of the people I know with kids (and I know a lot of them) fewer than 10% actually plan their kids meals and provide healthy meals and snacks.

It's really sad. And at the same time all of them wonder why their kids are lethargic, don't want to go run and play outside, and are suffering from health problems.

.

[polkadotfever]

photochick, I know a parent who fed and still feeds their kid the exact same type of menu (minus string cheese or yogurt--perish the thought!). Now the kid is a pre-teen and throws tantrums if you even suggest vegetables or anything remotely new or healthy. And the parent wonders what the child's problem is. Astounding.

[PhotoChick]

Now the kid is a pre-teen and throws tantrums if you even suggest vegetables or anything remotely new or healthy. And the parent wonders what the child's problem is. Astounding.

Oh I KNOW!!! And some of my friends with older kids are stressing out because they're dealing with behavioral issues at school and are talking about they're worried that their kids might be ADD.

Ya know what - if you didn't allow your 7 year old to drink a Mountain Dew in the morning and take another one to school for lunch ... maybe he wouldn't be having these behavioral problems (no disrespect to anyone who has a child who really *does* have issues that need proper medical treatment).

Not to mention the fact that my friend above likes to say that she's making the "healthy choice" at McDonalds by getting a kids meal with chicken and the fruit cup - except that the kid doesn't eat th fruit cup, she throws it on the floor and cries until she gets mommy's fries.

*sigh*

Do ya think this is a hot button with me?

.

[blondebritbrat17]

That is horrible that was posted on there and that people are actually posting comments about it. That just makes me sick.

Photochick-amen to everything you just said. :-)

[cakses]

I have typed and hit delete too many times. Sorry but the OP sounds like she doesn't want to hear anything, so I am not wasting my time discussing it.