NEWS: Puppy Fat is Evil?

CULTURE: Puppy Fat is Evil?

Has all the talk of child obesity gone too far? A study by an Australian university shows that 47% of six to eight year olds want to go on a diet.

I always thought Australians were super healthy, and that they all go for 5 km jogs and swim a couple of hundred lengths before they go off to punch sharks. A generation of fucked up Australian children could be a good thing; the UK might get to win some sporting events.

BWAAAHAHAHAHA!

Ummm... its time to educate children on the dofference between going on a diet and eating properly.

A diet lasts for a week or a month or whatever... good nutrition and common sense lasts the rest of their lives.

in the words of the immortal Silverchair, "fat boy, wait til tommorow."

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[Edited on Mar 13, 2005 by xer0yne]

[Edited on Mar 13, 2005 by xer0yne]

LOL at FAT KIDS!!!

What's puppy fat? Is it a British English term?

I was expecting an article on either obese dogs or the nutritional horrors of frying in puppy fat.

Nick

I didn't think it was, but it might be. Puppy Fat is the cute chubbiness that some kids have that they grow oout of. Perfectly normal body size, nothing wrong with it at all. Children need the extra energy because they run around a lot, and they're growing, upposedly.

The girl I work with has a 7year old that wants to go on a diet. She's not fat by any stretch of the imagination, and I think it's sad that weight is a concern of a girl that age. When I was 7, all I cared about were comic books and barbies.

All I cared about was cookies. Go figure.

as a former anorexic, I find this very sad. more and more, it seems Childhood is dead.

Stateside it is normally called "Baby Fat".

Over here we call that baby fat I think.

I developed anorexia at age 10, so it doesn't really surprise me. It makes me sad, though.




edit: in case you wonder, it took me 12 years to start developing a healthy body image.

[Edited on Mar 13, 2005 by datsun]

I think this is heart wrenchingly sad.

I hear so many women who aren't happy with their bodies and they don't realise that IT JUST ISN'T IMPORTANT. Whatever shape you are there's going to be someone who thinks you're fucking awesome. (But yes, I realise that this stuff is a lot more complicated than that and that Anorexia especially has some control stuff going on.)

I just wish children could be allowed to enjoy childhood and have fun.

Yeah, must be the same thing. I could kind of guess the meaning from the headline/article combo, but I've actually never heard that term before.

Nick

So a few years ago I found the journal I kept in grade school. From the year I was in 5th grade: "I got on mom's scale today and I weigh 74 pounds. I should only weigh 70 pounds to be perfect. I am going on a diet."

Yeah, kids are overly concerned with these things. I don't think it's necessarily a new thing though.

so uh ....like, where's the puppies?

Every chubby kid I grew up with was sent off to a fat camp by the time they were about 9. Shockingly most of them got heavier over the years and their self esteem plummeted. The saddest part is that none of the adults did things like set good examples or make sure that mostly nutritious food was kept in the house. Nope they kept eating all the same old crap, made thier kids feel bad when they wanted the same thing, then criticized them when they gained weight.

When I went crazy at age 11(which wasn't as fun as it sounds) I met a little girl who was 8 while in the hospital. She refused to eat. Flat out refused to. She was sickly thin, and they kept an iv in her attached to a rollaround thing to keep her "fed".

It was one of the absolute saddest things I've ever seen.

We today live in a culture of conformity. A large part of that is this notion for females that no matter now thin you are, you're 5 pounds overweight at all times. When devices like computers and televisions (or even the magzines that line the checkout stand) take the place of parents and family figures, the message that is spread through those sources becomes the values of the child. Media has an inherent stake in promoting unhealthy self image in consumers so that people will be more apt to buy their products. When those products are self enhancing (beauty, hygeine etc) the distortion is more pronounced. While the message may or may not be targeted at children, the end result is that a child who is raised by the media will view themselves the way the media wants them to be viewed.

The best thing is for a parent to both be aware of this influence and the impact it IS having on their child, and dispel the misinterpretations that bombard their sons and daughters.