Imagine you have two children: One is fat and one is thin. Do you plan on only talking to your fat child about healthy habits, good nutrition, and exercise? Of course not, that would be silly. And yet that’s pretty much what some people – doctors, politicians, our First Lady – seem to suggest you should do. That’s because they don’t actually care about the health of children (or adults), they care about weight. By now, you’ve hopefully come to the understanding that those are not the same thing.
And the thin kids who aren’t?
Check out this headline: “Obesity experts call for stricter rules on junk food ads targeted at children.” The article occasionally touches on poor nutrition in a more general sense, but it keeps coming back around to fat kids and “the money to be made by food companies from overweight children.” You know, I’m pretty sure there are tons of thin kids who crave and eat junk food. But I guess we don’t need to care about them, because thin = healthy! Problem solved.
(This article also proclaims that “[obesity] levels are still very high, which means that many thousands of overweight children will have health problems as adults.” I misplaced my crystal ball, but Guardian health editor Sarah Boseley’s seems to be in great working order. Fat kids, beware: You’re all doomed. Also, I guess us adult fatties should probably get our wills in order posthaste!)
Seriously, though, we are living in a world where not only are we worrying about the body size health of fat kids (and thereby ignoring the health needs of skinny ones), but we are increasingly blaming their parents for “neglecting” to care for them. Did you know there’s a senator in Puerto Rico who wants to fine parents whose kids don’t lose weight? Fine them! (This is obviously a man who believes that permanent weight loss is possible, which is the opposite of pretty much every dieter’s experience.)
Sadly, there are people who agree with this approach. Check out these comments, which I found on an article about junk-food advertising (spelling and grammar are his!):
i’m going to follow fat kids home from School, take down the address and report their parents to child services for child abuse.
I dont know why we allow this to happen and why everyone is not reporting failure parents for this disgusting abuse.
Fine parents for fat kids […] if that fails, put the kids into a home where they are treated with respect and love.
Fat kids have fat parents who cant control their diet, but that does not mean they have to expose them to their bad habits which is arguably child abuse, you are giving them the worst start in life and decreasing their life span by 40-50 years.
~that is a crime that should be punishable by a prison sentence.
(Breaking news: Not all fat kids have fat parents. Not all fat parents have fat kids.)
This is the kind of world that fat children are living in. One where their parents are accused of not providing love and respect because of the size of their bodies. One where their parents may face fines that could impoverish or bankrupt the family because of the size of their bodies.
Many years ago, someone very close to my family said, “Fat children are the result of bad parenting.” This didn’t come from someone who barely knew me, or my parents. This was a loved one! Someone who knew how we were raised, who witnessed what and how much we ate, who saw how much we were loved and respected. If someone like that can say something so off-base, I guess it’s no surprise that strangers would say the same, and worse.
Anyone – from politicians to “obesity experts” to Michelle Obama – who focuses their concern on fat children (and not all children) does not care about health, they care about weight. We cannot stand by and let public and social policy be based on body size. We cannot allow children to be treated differently because of the size of their bodies. We need to care about all children; we need to teach all children how to fuel and move their bodies. All children. Full stop.
