Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Wow

People, I am really touched by everyone's responses to yesterday's post. I was really nervous to talk about it and thought it might be a "hot button" issue. Once again I am amazed at how thoughtful, honest, sensitive and sincere my readers are. Really... what a great community!

10 comments:

Jennifer said...

I actually got a transcript from a school that has the childs BMI listed right on the top. Blew me away that the schools are getting involved in that as well.

Jennifer said...

I actually got a transcript from a school that has the childs BMI listed right on the top. Blew me away that the schools are getting involved in that as well.

Jennifer said...

Sorry about the double post .. I also wanted to add that my niece was over-weight until she was about 11 or 12. She got her period around 11 and ever since then her weight just disappeared. Now she is a size zero in American Eagle jeans and is 5'6. She was a chunky monkey all along though. My sister got her into every sport you could imagine and nothing took off the weight. Nothing. She got her period and boom .. gone. It was truly "baby fat".

So, that is something to think about. Not that encouraging an energetic lifestyle is not a good idea. It absolutely is. Her kids don't know life without activity in it. That is how they were raised. To be sedentary drives them crazy.

Ms. Flusterate said...

I just wanted to add that my oldest (18) was chubby until around age 16 (boy oh boy did I have to bite my tongue for a few years there when I was buying new sizes up every year and all the junk eating that was going on) and then finally she shot up a few inches and slimmed down a few sizes.

I have never, ever said a single word about her weight (or mine or anyone else's) but I did try to model good behavior (ie exercise, everything in moderation).

The growth spurt (mentally and physically) was pure magic to watch and in college she hasn't gained the freshman15 and the first year is nearly over...... I think she has an excellent self image and I am so proud for her because mine was shot to hell from my parents telling me I needed to lose weight from age 10 onwards through college.

Very sensitive subject.... but it can be done the right way! Good luck!

wootini said...

Sorry to come late to the conversation; I don't have much to add that hasn't been covered - but what a great discussion! As an aside, I have been quite impressed with your descriptions of Kid's diet and the types of food she will eat.

I think you're right on target with the idea that she doesn't always identify hunger correctly. Coming from someone who works to overcome the same and frequently has a mind that wants to eat out of boredom, I can tell you that it's hard to do at 37, so I can only imagine how it would be at her age. I think it would be a great gift to her, if you can help her learn to understand the signals better at a young age.

Since I've been more carefully tracking eating/calories and paying more attention to true hunger signals - well, let's just say that my brain wants to eat FAR, FAR more often than my body apparently needs to. I wish I'd figured it out when I was Kid's age.

Good luck with adding in more family activity! I know finances are a challenge, but is there a neighborhood pool or a rec center where you can swim? As I kid I loved going to the Y for winter swim with my family, and we lived at the pool all summer. I'm sure it was great exercise but we us kids just thought it was all fun.

Anything but ice skating! :)

Mrs Furious said...

Jennifer,
"I actually got a transcript from a school that has the childs BMI listed right on the top."
Fascinating. I'm not sure in a good way or bad way.


Ms Flusterate,
"I think she has an excellent self image and I am so proud for her"
That is awesome. I really want that for my girls... for whatever reason I didn't have that and I hope that they never have the "am I fat?" stuff running through their heads.


Emily,
It's funny since I'm paying attention to her and her "hunger" it makes me realize how often I'm eating just because there is food there to eat.
Swimming... she loved her class swimming lessons... I am looking into seeing how we can continue that.
There is a local pool but I don't know the deal or when it opens... I'll check it out.
I've decided to take the girls to our family cottage for the summer. I was just going to do a month but now I'm thinking of extending it because life there is just naturally active ALL DAY long and the kids love every minute of it.
Once we get the babysitting money coming in we'll have more flexibility to pursue afterschool activities.

Elizabeth said...

ooh! when will you be up north? I'll have some time to be there before/after summer gig.

I was the opposite of all the lucky people mentioning it here: I was a skinny kid who put on weight during puberty and now has serious trouble keeping it off.

Also Dad was/is not supportive. Comments are made. I try to ignore them, but it's hard not to be a little crazy about weight.

I've always hated sports/been a bookworm, bad habits started early!

Mrs Furious said...

Elizabeth,
"I've always hated sports/been a bookworm, bad habits started early!"
That is exactly like Ruby... and I'm not sure that is a total problem in the grand scheme of things. ;)

My dad has always been super weight critical... his whole family really. It was funny to see them because they hadn't seen me since I got so much thinner... and you'd think I had won a Nobel prize that's how much it matters to them. It kind of makes you feel bad because the emphasis is definitely that you didn't meet their expectations BEFORE.

As for Empire... ALL of July and possibly end of June. I'm pretty open. Ruby is out of school the 29th of May so we don't have anything to do around here.

Elizabeth said...

Excellent, I should be able to be up there mid July. (Before running off to my crazy medieval camping event)

Yeah, Highschool was full of dad saying things like "you should tone up before you wear shorts this year" and "Employers will consider you a health risk if you are too fat and not hire you."

TO be fair I WAS (am still but less so) overweight, but really? That's damaging.

Mrs Furious said...

Elizabeth,
um... yes... damaging.
Employers?! Way to put a whole lot of whacky stress on it.

Oh good re: July... we will be there. I'm excited! :)

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