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Strollerderby
I knew this day was coming. My small girl is seven years old. So, I knew it was only a matter of time before she let me know she recognized her size and her weight – and told me if she was happy in her own skin. And asked what I thought of mine. I’ll be honest, I was hoping her innocence about all things body image would last a bit longer – say until she is 22 or so(*insert wishful thinking*), but, I suppose that isn’t realistic.
She is surrounded by images in the media – she doesn’t watch much in the way of television that might force the issue, but I certainly can’t force her to wear blinders in the check-out line at the grocer store. Body images, both large and small are plastered on the covers of magazines.
And it was just such a magazine cover today that prompted our conversation. My small girl has never heard me criticize myself physically. (Not that I don’t recognize my own flaws, but that I have deliberately chosen to keep all, “I feel fat in this”, “I hate my (insert body part)”, “I really need to head to the gym because I ate too many cookies” comments to myself in her presence.)
Do you encourage your children to play outside?
My husband and I have completely different parenting styles, as do a lot of parents, I imagine. Our kids are very young, but I often wonder how these differences will manifest themselves when our kids are of the age they want to leave the house and play with friends.
I grew up playing games with all the neighbors. Running around, climbing trees, fences the whole nine yards. I’d like my kids to have a similar childhood in that regard. I wonder if my husband will be up for letting them carouse around our neighborhood or if he’ll want to keep a constant eye on them. Also, do children even go outside and play anymore? Perhaps what I’m about to tell you will help convince my husband to take a step back from being so vigilant. Continue reading »
When you start any new exercise routine, you’re deluged with guidelines. They come from your doctor, your trainer, your friends, the Internet, your yoga teacher and the hyper-fit chick on TV who tells you to do 50 jumping jacks a minute.
If you’re a woman, most of those guidelines are based on little more than guesswork. Most of the studies that have ever been done on exercise have been done with male only subjects. As two articles in the New York Times Well blog made clear this week, women’s bodies are not men’s, and we respond differently to exertion.
Hey, Moms! Here’s a new research study you’ll love. It’s looking at the obesity epidemic in American kids, and for once pointing the finger somewhere other than straight at you.
Schools are in the hot seat this time. A new report from Bridging The Gap indicates that elementary school students can buy soda, candy and other junk foods in their schools, but they often don’t get opportunities to exercise.
Shouldn’t our schools be making it harder for kids to access edible crap, and easier for them to move their bodies?
I hated gym class when I was a child. As a fairly uncoordinated, unathletic kid, I was traumatized by dodge ball, changing rooms, and the Presidential Fitness Tests. By the time I reached high school, I pretty much begged my parents to get me a doctor’s note to excuse me from gym (they took pity on me and eventually relented).
Now that I’m a mom, I love PE — or at least the idea of it. I don’t want my kids to be sitting still throughout the school day. I’d much rather that they were up and moving. And given the childhood obesity epidemic, it’s more important than ever to keep our kids active.
Therefore, it’s good news that more states are requiring PE at the elementary, junior- high and high-school levels, according to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education and the American Heart Association’s ”The 2010 Shape of the Nation Report: Status of Physical Education in the USA,” which they issued this week. Continue reading »
Want active kids? Turn off your TV. New research on how parents’ behavior affects their kids shows that kids whose parents watch more than 4 hours of TV a day are at substantially increased risk to watch that much TV themselves.
Not exactly shocking.
Here’s good news for couch potato parents, though. You don’t have to exercise to get your kid moving.
Jillian Michaels Dukes It Out With Mommy Bloggers
“Plus size has become something that is at the forefront of media these days. I think it’s a good thing. I think it’s saying that women are beautiful in all different shapes and sizes. Campaigns with women that are not a zero, I support 100% and I think that it will really help the youth of America not pick themselves apart or feel they need to fit into a stereotype that just isn’t a reality, not even for the women on those magazine covers.” That’s The Biggest Loser star Jillian Michaels on the state of the modeling industry, in this video filmed during the photo shoot for her cover story in Women’s Health. And yet she clearly holds herself to a different standard, as she (now famously) told the magazine she won’t ruin her body by having a baby. Based on the blogosphere’s reaction, Michaels has found herself eating those words. Continue reading »
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Wendy Michaels 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
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