"Won't Somebody PLEASE Think of the Children!"

As Helen Lovejoy of the Simpsons would often scream, "Won't somebody please think of the children!?" All these anti-obesity organizations seem to be screaming this every single time they try and make a point, as seen with MeMe Roth, the current "it" discussion on most fat blogs because of her statements against Jordin Sparks of American Idol. But all of this screeching for the health of children makes me wonder if perhaps, we're doing far more harm than good. An ad campaign for a health facility called MetroWest made news back in January because of their finger pointing and shaming of parents. (Click here to view various billboards and their television ad) This makes me so terrified for my children one day... After all, what with "second-hand obesity" being a new term I've heard thrown around, I'm just going to keep making those around me fat! But in all seriousness, unless I find the relatively skinny man of my dreams (what can I say? I find t3h skinny hot on guys XD) and my children get his metabolism, they are pretty much doomed to draw comparisons to their bodies when they see pictures such as these all over the place on billboards and television ads:


If I always look the same way I do now (which, I hate to say, I aspire to tweak a bit), I swear my kids are going to ask me about the second one: "Mommy, what are you doing on a billboard?" Because that girl looks about like my size. Actually, if I were to see that with nothing beneath it, I would perhaps think she was about to go and box somebody, or compete in some championship softball game because of the way she's sitting all nervous like. But how could I forget? Fat people are never on anything unless the purpose is to point out how fat they are.

But anyways, back on subject! Poor kids. Yeah, I've been on a "what are my kids going to look like/be like/live like lately, probably because upcoming college=me thinking about the future=me thinking broadly about the future. Also, I'm terrified of something like this happening. In both famous cases, as mentioned in the link, the child's weight did not change after the child was no longer in the custody of the parents. It seems as though nowadays, kids who would have, if born thirty years ago, been big anyways due to genetics, we now see their parents as these evil fiends we must conquer or else the children won't have a future and will die due to type II diabetes and such! Oh no! Hell, I was/am* an obese kid (*depends on your definition of kid, I guess) and I feel I have a pretty bright future. This fall I'm going to be well on my way to being fluent in German, and then all I'll have to worry about is whether or not the interpretor business is anti-fat O,o

The bottom line is that children are being used as the number one reason why the obesity epidemic must be conquered once and for all, without any real fool-proof plans that will help combat it, and little to no explanation for why programs that are created for the sole purpose of helping children be anorexic little snobs fit and healthy youngsters. Honestly, because I am super paranoid, I honestly believe that no one gives a damn about the fat kids or adults... The outspoken majority is just tired of having to look at their "disgusting flabbiness" and are looking for a good excuse to get it out of their sights. To me, that's the worst way to "think of the children."