Actually, this has been on my mind recent;y. I work with both preschoolers and 4th and 5th graders, and in the 4th/5th class yesterday we had current event presentations that included an article about the "5 Worst School Lunches." While I agree that the things on the list (pepperoni pizza, nachos, etc) aren't the most healthy things for children to be eating daily, labeling food as BAD or focusing heavily on calories and fat content (as this article did) can't be good for young children
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All really good points. I totally agree with everything you said.
I think what scares me the most is how young these girls are (as young as 3!). It makes me feel like the push for thinness in our culture is so deeply ingrained that we are passing on that message in so many ways without realizing it.
Everywhere I go I hear mom's talking to other women about how much they hate their bodies, and they're talking right in front of their kids. Little kids, even bigger kids, take the images and scripts that they see and hear and replicate them; this is childhood development 101. if a behavior works for them in any way they'll repeat it. its not cute or funny when your five year old cries or moans about how her belly is "fat."
i know this is an oversimplification, but parents NEED to beware of the examples they themselves set for their kids, and what they let their kids come into contact with.
Also, rewarding kids with food drives me NUTS.
It's been hammered into my skull that I cannot let my students or other children I know and work with understand that I have an eating disorder or value my weight. Its hard to balance everything, but I always try to have my kids see me eating something healthy every time I see them and redirect compliments about my thinness.
sry for the rant. i needed to get on my soapbox ^_^
This really kills me. I have two younger sisters, both seven. One is a few months older than the other, and was born from my step-mom and dad, and the other from my mom and some dude. The one who lives with my mom... I practically raised her. Her dad wasn't around so I was pretty much the dad, and the mom a lot of the time, too. Cause our mom was a single mom, working two jobs. I made sure NEVER to let my ED talk out loud when I was around her. And she never watched anything but cartoons on Noggin and a few others until recently. She never says she's fat, or says that someone is fat
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I think what scares me the most is how young these girls are (as young as 3!). It makes me feel like the push for thinness in our culture is so deeply ingrained that we are passing on that message in so many ways without realizing it.
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i know this is an oversimplification, but parents NEED to beware of the examples they themselves set for their kids, and what they let their kids come into contact with.
Also, rewarding kids with food drives me NUTS.
It's been hammered into my skull that I cannot let my students or other children I know and work with understand that I have an eating disorder or value my weight. Its hard to balance everything, but I always try to have my kids see me eating something healthy every time I see them and redirect compliments about my thinness.
sry for the rant. i needed to get on my soapbox ^_^
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Unsurprising, but still upsetting
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