A new generation of insults 7

Banty shinypenny say family about about looks mothers who can't their 3rd you heard complain diet But it's be judgemental excusing smoking.

Banty, no one is talking about *excusing obesity* I cannot speak for others, but what I'm talking about is the notion that it is WRONG for a parent to point to a friend of their child and say, *it is bad for THAT child to have let his-her body get that way* (and I don't know that you actually do that, but your post certainly suggests that you do). THAT is talking about a particular person, and casting that person in the position of being *wrong* and *bad* The discussion should be about what YOUR child should be doing. Otherwise, frankly, you're going to have to deal with the kids who live on a diet of potato chips and ice cream and are skinny as rails and healthy as horses (not to mention the kids who don't wear bike helmets and never get hurt, or the kids who don't sit in booster seats in cars and are just fine). Talk about healthy foods. Talk about exercise. Talk about healthy bodies. Talk about what YOU and YOUR kids do and should be doing. Let others worry about themselves.

Honestly, when you look at an overweight child, do you know WHY that child is overweight? Do you know that its not the result of the child having been recently taken off of Adderall (due to side effects), with the weight expected to come off quickly once the medical situation is stabilized? Or that the child's parents have not been working closely with a pediatrician, nutritionist, and endocrinologist for several years to deal with the question of why a child who eats in a reasonably healthy manner and gets lots of exercise is still substantially overweight? We currently know 2 overweight children in those positions. Of course these are the exceptions, not the rules. But unless you know the background of each and every person whom you are pointing at, you are going to be condemning those people as well.

BTW, I'm over 40, overweight (and make no excuses for it), walk at least a couple of miles a day, have no health problems, live in the Bronx, and consider it a lovely neighborhood -- Fort Appache disappeared long before the 80s, you know.

Barbara