I really ought to give up reading the news... keeps giving me mommy blog ideas and I end up ranting and raving and writing for hours on end...oh well
As teens, a lot of us spent umpteen (Ha!) hours annoying fathers and brothers preening in front of mirrors, examining ourselves till we were just right. Add to that a need to look slim and most of us watched what we ate or at least pretended we did. And, of course, dissed our moms who kept telling us to eat well and other assorted friends and relatives who would chirpily claim that plump was so becoming!!! Really what did they know... and what was this obsession with food anyways? And so we travelled into our 20s and 30s eating enough and dieting when we felt that fave pair of jeans fold down near the tummy!!!
And then babies happen.... and we turn into our mothers. Feeding a yelling screaming newborn (and all the assorted things that could go wrong if you don't do it just right) is just the beginning of a lifelong commitment to feed until you or they drop!!!.... then there are the milestones for weight and height that you feel you should meet and then when they feed themselves you never know if they've had enough... cos really how much can she fist into herself at that slow rate and with an attention span of a butterfly, right? And so starts the average mom's obsession with feeding... her baby, her hubby, herself, the neighbours, her friends. Moms must never see anyone go hungry. Tired? You should eat. Stressed? You should eat. Sleepy? Drink some milk. Just had dinner? Have some dessert. The solution to everything becomes: FOOD.
But at what point did we lose perspective that we're in the middle of an obesity epidemic? For KIDS!!! That in a starving country like India, diabetes due to overeating is fast becoming the number one affliction among poeple who can eat. Pictures of kids stuffing their faces was and is never cute.... and yet how can we blame the mom who only wants to feed her child? And so we have fads: the health food fad, the diet and exercise fad, the low carb fad, the jump-up-and-down-20-times-in-the-middle-of-geography-lesson fad and the think fit fad.
The obsession with food is not new to any culture. While there is good food people will enjoy it. Rosogollas and naans are truly things of joy but not in multiples of 20 and 3 upwards respectively. And in a child, surely a trait not to be encouraged. But while there are moms from poor countries who are newly introduced to either easy food or a lot of disposable income, the result always will be the same: slightly cherubic children!!!
And yet, I will continue to harass D-Poo into her 20s and her 30s... exhorting her to eat right (how about some fruit? No... okay then how about some nuts?) and lots more than she deems necessary... as long as she realizes it's a foolish mom's preoccupation (okay, well, obsession) and remembers to rely on her own good sense and judgment when enough is truly enough, she will turn out just fine. Until she becomes a mother. Sigh! And so the vicious cycle shall continue.....
As teens, a lot of us spent umpteen (Ha!) hours annoying fathers and brothers preening in front of mirrors, examining ourselves till we were just right. Add to that a need to look slim and most of us watched what we ate or at least pretended we did. And, of course, dissed our moms who kept telling us to eat well and other assorted friends and relatives who would chirpily claim that plump was so becoming!!! Really what did they know... and what was this obsession with food anyways? And so we travelled into our 20s and 30s eating enough and dieting when we felt that fave pair of jeans fold down near the tummy!!!
And then babies happen.... and we turn into our mothers. Feeding a yelling screaming newborn (and all the assorted things that could go wrong if you don't do it just right) is just the beginning of a lifelong commitment to feed until you or they drop!!!.... then there are the milestones for weight and height that you feel you should meet and then when they feed themselves you never know if they've had enough... cos really how much can she fist into herself at that slow rate and with an attention span of a butterfly, right? And so starts the average mom's obsession with feeding... her baby, her hubby, herself, the neighbours, her friends. Moms must never see anyone go hungry. Tired? You should eat. Stressed? You should eat. Sleepy? Drink some milk. Just had dinner? Have some dessert. The solution to everything becomes: FOOD.
But at what point did we lose perspective that we're in the middle of an obesity epidemic? For KIDS!!! That in a starving country like India, diabetes due to overeating is fast becoming the number one affliction among poeple who can eat. Pictures of kids stuffing their faces was and is never cute.... and yet how can we blame the mom who only wants to feed her child? And so we have fads: the health food fad, the diet and exercise fad, the low carb fad, the jump-up-and-down-20-times-in-the-middle-of-geography-lesson fad and the think fit fad.
The obsession with food is not new to any culture. While there is good food people will enjoy it. Rosogollas and naans are truly things of joy but not in multiples of 20 and 3 upwards respectively. And in a child, surely a trait not to be encouraged. But while there are moms from poor countries who are newly introduced to either easy food or a lot of disposable income, the result always will be the same: slightly cherubic children!!!
And yet, I will continue to harass D-Poo into her 20s and her 30s... exhorting her to eat right (how about some fruit? No... okay then how about some nuts?) and lots more than she deems necessary... as long as she realizes it's a foolish mom's preoccupation (okay, well, obsession) and remembers to rely on her own good sense and judgment when enough is truly enough, she will turn out just fine. Until she becomes a mother. Sigh! And so the vicious cycle shall continue.....
Comments