has anyone else seen the commercials for this new show on TLC?
it's called, "Honey, we're killing the kids" - and the premise says, "offers a startling look at the causes of America's childhood obesity epidemic and issues a critical wake-up call for parents."
i'm NOT promoting anything here - but if you're interested - cuz i keep seeing commercials for it and it looks GOOD...it premiers on april 10th (check TLC.com for more info)...
but FINALLY a show that really does talk about what parents are doing to kids today.
I saw some shows of this (can't anymore because it is on a pay channel that I do not subscribe to now), and it is truly horrifying to see what the continuation of bad habits would do to the kids in terms of health, happiness and lifespan. It is really really good, you should watch it!
Scary stuff- the things that people do to their children through lack of knowledge of forethought. All of the parents were truly horrified and made some great lifestyle changes for their kids.
I saw that and hubby and I both want to watch it. I heard an interesting thing the other day, it was, would you give your dog a donut everyday???? It was pointing out that we make sure our animals are healthier than our kids!! It really made a point for me. I dont have kids, but I would never feed my dogs anything unhealthy, I make sure they exercise, and eat proper amounts and that they have good quality food, and I give them treats of carrots, but I dont know thats what I would do if I had kids, I hope that I do especially now that I see it like that, like I said it really made me think, and open my eyes.
I want to watch it too. I dont feed my kids anything that I wouldnt eat myself. That means they get no fast food, very limited candy. Lots of fruits and veggies. No soft drinks ect.. However, my fiancee his son lives with his mother and all he is fed is crap food, so I am really glad this show is airing so people will quit filling their kids full of crap.
Oh I am so ready to watch this show, it looks great. Being a nanny and working with children full time I see the way these kids eat.
It horrifys me! We placate our children with food, and then wonder why they are heavy or unhealthy.
I tell people that it may be "okay" for a four year old to eat mac and cheese and two hotdogs everyday for now but what happens when he gets to be older and his metabolism slows down?
I am fighting now the bad habits that my parents and (southern) grandparents instilled in me (you mean cheese grits arent healthy?).
I have very strong convictions about how my children will eat. I havent been to a fast food restaurant in years, and my kids wont either. Candy isnt necesary on a daily basis, as a treat its fine. My dog is the same way, she eats the best quality food and although she does get treats its not too many. She especially likes carrots and frozen peas.
Anywho I am excited to see what this show is all about. I think most parents would be shocked if they kept their kids on a caloric diet or even just thought about what their kids eat!
For example a child I nanny for has in a typical day:
B: A bowl of high sugar oatmeal with honey and milk added. Then some white bread with margerine, and maybe some fruit. Also a big glass of sugar filled fruit juice.
L: Usually CHIK FiL A fried chicken fingers and fries (and he thinks this is healthy and asks me for a "treat" if he finishes it all!)
D: Mac and cheese, Hotdog, pizza, etc, etc. Then for dessert he might get ice cream or a popsicle!
Vegetables do not touch this child's mouth and when did this type of diet become acceptable or normal? I find it very very sad.
Thanks! It looks fascinating! I just checked the TLC channel and it starts tonight. They'll rerun the same episode all week, so it should be easy to catch one.
Speaking of what we feed out kids, I rode the bus with a lady who had 2 small children 2 and 4 years old. In the mornings she'd be yelling at them for not eating breakfast while feeding them frosted flakes or something chocolatey and washing it down with Mountain dew. (won't even get into the omg, you're eating on the bus? You can get a ticket.) In the evenings after work she'd be dragging these kids back on the bus and they'd be whining and hungry and she would yell at them that they couldn't have anything to eat now becasue they woudn't eat their dinner when they got home. Then after about 5 minutes of them promising to eat their dinner and crying Mom would whip out a can of Mountain Dew and some candy for them to eat. Every single day! How hard would have been to have some healthy snacks in her bag? raisins, nuts, small juicy juice boxes, cut up veggies, an apple? or ask the baby sitter to give them a heatlhy snack later in the day. When I was small, my mother always had something in her bag to keep us quiet- cheerios, nuts, raisins, fruit. It was never soda and candy.
Since my husband and I started a healthier lifestyle in January we have noticed such a change in our oldest son. He dropped 10 pounds without even trying. He is just looking so strong and healthy now. Just his loss alone gives me incentive to keep trudging along and acquiring new good habits for my kids' sake. I hope this show will help to give me more inspiration to keep saying "no" to all the junk food that my kids want. (It's kinda hard sometimes.)
I watched this show tonight. I thought it was decent, but I wasn't that enthralled. Maybe it will be a wake up call to some parents who watch though, and that would be great.
Did anyone notice how when they did the computer transformations, showing the parents what their kids would look like at age 40, at the beginning of the show they had them with horrible haircuts and ugly glasses and just generally looking unkempt? The little boy even had tape on his glasses during the computer morphing! Then at the end when they showed their updated "futures", they had nice hairstyles and attractive glasses! I know they were just trying to maximize the difference between "before" and "after", but it does show how your weight is connected to a perception that you don't care about your looks and have no aesthetic taste.
Did anyone notice how when they did the computer transformations, showing the parents what their kids would look like at age 40, at the beginning of the show they had them with horrible haircuts and ugly glasses and just generally looking unkempt? The little boy even had tape on his glasses during the computer morphing! Then at the end when they showed their updated "futures", they had nice hairstyles and attractive glasses! I know they were just trying to maximize the difference between "before" and "after", but it does show how your weight is connected to a perception that you don't care about your looks and have no aesthetic taste.
that is DEFINATELY something i noticed...i really liked the show - i don't have any kids yet - but i already know that if i don't change my lifestyle BEFORE i have kids, how can i expect to BE a good healthy mom and raise healthy kids when i DO have them? but - the thing about fat=unnattractive...i DEFINATELY saw that in the before & after pics. i mean, granted, being fat & unhealthy is NOT a good thing no matter what, but I DO know many overweight people who are NOT ugly and unnattractive - of course, unfortunatly there's also too many that ARE - but there's also THIN people who are unnattractive as well.
you have to admit though - that's a stigma in our society that "fat=ugly" it's extremely sad. :-(
I watched this show last night! Boy was the oldest kid ever obnoxious!
The one thing that I thought was silly was the fact that the first night's dinner was such and extreme - no wonder they didn't like it! You can't expect people to switch over from eating pizza and takeout to eating tofu and bok choi stir fry overnight - that was just way too hard for the kids - hey I couldn't do it either I think it would have gone smoother if they had just made healthy versions of something familiar, like wholewheat spaghetti with homemade sauce that included extra veggies like carrots, mushrooms and peppers in it or even home made healthy pizzas.
It must have been weird for the parents to watch their kids grow up before their eyes and yes they did not look attractive in the first morph but I find that if you don't feel good about yourself (emotionally) then you tend to not look after yourself as well (hence the unkept/scruffy look) - also eating badly will eventually affect you skin, hair, nails etc.
I liked the way they came together as a family at the end. Although I'm sure it wasn't smooth sailing after the cameras went home they did make improvements in their personal relationships.
I think it is important that when one person goes on a healthy eating plan that the whole house does too. It doesn't hurt for your entire family to eat better and to limit treats. And you can have fun exercising together by playing basketball or going swimming together.
The one thing that I thought was silly was the fact that the first night's dinner was such and extreme - no wonder they didn't like it! You can't expect people to switch over from eating pizza and takeout to eating tofu and bok choi stir fry overnight - that was just way too hard for the kids - hey I couldn't do it either I think it would have gone smoother if they had just made healthy versions of something familiar, like wholewheat spaghetti with homemade sauce that included extra veggies like carrots, mushrooms and peppers in it or even home made healthy pizzas.
I so agree! What a way to turn kids off of healthy eating all together by making them eat tofu the first day. I haven't even gotten brave enough to eat tofu yet! (someday, someday.... lol) There are so many healthy meals that the kids would have liked. The show almost seemed like a punishment to the kids for being overweight. Why couldn't they have made healthy eating and exercise a little fun at least?
In my opinion, a big "thumbs down" for this episode. Hopefully this show will improve in the future.
I was basically appalled by this show. I agree that it took a very punitive view of eating healthy, like eating healthy=eating gross food. If they even just cut down on the fried food and beefed up on salads, veggies, etc. as side dishes instead of french fries, it would have been a vast improvement over what they did. And tofu? That's just ridiculous. And I also agree that the projections were terrible. I am not at all a Fat Rights Activist, but the images perpetuated the stereotype that fat people are also generally lazy and unkempt, and that really offended me.
It seemed like a Fox reality show. I was disappointed in TLC for airing this.
"Honey, we're killing the kids"...
I know they were just trying to maximize the difference between "before" and "after", but it does show how your weight is connected to a perception that you don't care about your looks and have no aesthetic taste.
I think it would have gone smoother if they had just made healthy versions of something familiar, like wholewheat spaghetti with homemade sauce that included extra veggies like carrots, mushrooms and peppers in it or even home made healthy pizzas.
