Growing up I always thought I was really fat. I was constantly told it was true. Now when I look back, sure, I was chubby at times, but never really fat. For a few years I was in pretty damn good shape. And then I suddenly wasn't. I've written about all the reasons for that so I won't go over it again. I will say that it really snuck up on me. One day I suddenly weighed almost 600 pounds and honestly had no idea how the hell it happened. And then I noticed my daughter was following in my and her mother's footsteps. Our children learn everything from us. The good and the bad. I started to notice that my daughter was lazy, that she focussed on food. Not good food, just food. When I would go to the store she would demand a treat, and I would get it. And I would get me two, or three. I couldn't walk through a store and needed to use the electric carts, she wouldn't walk through a store and demanded to ride in the cart. I noticed that she would rather sit and watch television all day, or play on her computer, just like daddy. It hit me like a cannonball to the head. And it became part of my motivation.
My oldest daughter is 16. She weighs 300 pounds. She's heading down the same road her mother and I took. She's at high risk for developing diabetes and other health issues. At 16. She's learned from our examples. She is part of my motivation. I want to lead by example. I can't tell her to get off her ass while I sit on mine. I can't tell her to go to the gym and not do the same. I have never been a fan of the "do as I say not as I do" routine. There are plenty of reasons to exercise, there are many reasons I exercise, but my children are the motivation that keeps me going back day after day. My youngest isn't yet 2, I want to set a better example for him than I have for the other three.
I often think that parents don't realize just how much their actions and choices are emulated by their children. We may think it's cute when Junior repeats a bad word, we don't notice when they copy our eating habits. We love to talk about how a child looks just like a parent, we don't comment when they copy shitty behaviour. We like to make "mini me's" because it makes us feel special as parents, we rarely take the time for introspection and wondering if creating another "me" is a good thing.
We exist in a society and a time that makes obesity easy. For all the lip service about "being active" and "eating healthy" we really encourage the opposite. Fast food on every corner. Stores full of processed foods. Moving sidewalks. Want to ride a bike? Make sure your life insurance is paid up. Most cities in this country have crappy mass transit, so we drive. 250 channels of television, smart phones, social media. It's all easy. Getting off your butt and sweating, that's hard. When you live with depression it's even harder. But watching your children get fat, made fun of, ostracized, that makes for a good wakeup call. It's easy to be lazy, to eat crap food, to sit around and do nothing. At least for a while. Until you step on the scale one day and it bounces off 600. Until you realize your children are heading in the same direction. Until you finally realize there really aren't any valid reasons not do it.
The gym that I belong to has members from 16 to 90 something. I see these old people come in, day after day, to do something. I look at them and think, if they can do it anyone can do it. If you can push your walker from spot to spot I can certainly move my fat ass. You're missing a leg and I'm whining about knee pain. You've had three heart attacks and I'm bitching about how early it is. And they tell me that I'm the one that motivates them. I find that ironic.
1 comment:
I worry about my kids following in my footsteps too, although I eat pretty healthy these days and I exercise all the time. I have told them many times that I don't want them to diet. I think dieting and losing and then re-gaining is how people end up obese. I also think that making comments to kids can be hurtful. If they bring it up, we can discuss it, but I'm certainly not going to tell them that they need to lose weight. I keep healthy foods in the house and we have unhealthy foods every once in a while, but it isn't an every day thing. When they have a snack, I suggest they chose protein. Sometimes if they eat a bunch of carbs, I ask them if they're planning to run a marathon in the morning. But mostly I talk about nutrition and I never talk about weight.
Post a Comment