Weight Loss Culture May be Hurting Kids
August 25th, 2009
Society at large has been praising the merits of thinness for many years, with super models and silver screen stars proudly strutting svelte figures. But recently, as awareness grows about worldwide “obesity epidemics,” media is becoming ever more harsh on the matter, and a recently released report on eating disorders among children suggests that this surge may be responsible for significant increases in dangerous diets and poor body image. Some mental health professionals have suggested that children abstain from watching television shows such as “The Biggest Loser,” but others note that the concentration on being thin and losing weight extends far beyond the TV. Instilling positive self-image ideas in kids may hold the key to warding off harmful eating habits.
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Comments
My parents and my entire family is big made. I am not fat but I am pear shaped. I face so much in school and am teased no ends. Its sad but thin is always in. Noone looks beyond skin deep when you are a teenager.
How about we just call fat people fat and avoid the euphemisms. What’s warped and unrealistic is giving flab a cutesy name. Political correctness makes me sick. If you’re fat, you’re fat. Deal with it and if you don’t like being fat, do something about it.
My daughter is seven and already she will make little comments here and there about her belly being big and things like that. She is seven! I never thought about things like that at her age yet I was not exposed to all of the anorexic movie stars that our kids are today! These celebs are who our kids look up to and they are making it harder and harder for parents to tell their kids that they are ok no matter what they look like. I think that there is a time and a place for being concerned about your child’s weight but there is a right way to handle it and a wrong way. I do not want my daughter to be so weight obsessed that it ends up controlling her life in the way that I see it happening all around me to so many other females. Let’s just get back to giving our kids a good old healthy dose of self esteem and let them live happy lives without always having to be so concerned with how they and others look.
Well said Amy. I know I never thought about my weight at seven. Your daughter’s lucky to have a mom with the right attitude to set her mind straight on that.
Hey Marty! You’re always such a ray of sunshine, you know that? LOL.
My son is 4.5 and calls his friend a pot. The kid is just chubby not fat. I think kids are more conscious than 10 years ago. That’s a good and bad thing. Schools freak them out about fats so they dont eat anything which is not high fibre blah blah blah. Its good to be fit but not make it the obsession in life.
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