My girls, who are only 8-years-old, and 6-years-old, are already becoming weight conscious. Did it come from TV? Their friends? Family? I don't know. Part of me wants to solve the problem by telling them that weight doesn't matter. At least that's what I hear from all the shrinks and wannabe shrinks on TV and in the papers. I guess that can temporarily stave off negative feelings. But, if they actually believe that wieght doesn't matter, and if they gain a lot of weight, how are they going to feel when they get into middle school or high school or the world? It's a hard problem. Do you tell them that weight matters so they take it seriously, or lie to them and tell them it doesn't to spare their feelings?
Well, obesity is one of the major problems this country faces. Childhood obesity is out of control. Being fat as an adult leads to all kinds of problems including big problems like heart disease and diabetes, and smaller problems like back aches and sore knees. Not too mention the hard-to-quantify problems like being discriminated against in the work place and in social settings.
So, what do we do? Do we tell them that weight matters or not? Well, my wife and I have decided to talk about the importance of health...not heft. And with discussions of health comes healthy eating and exercise. We have also decided to be healthy role models by eating right and exercising ourselves. Hopefully this will help them to not worry about weight and, and the same time, not become obese.
What do you think?
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