Re: childhood obesity

AlsDonkBoxSquat

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2012/01/31/mommy-bloggers-ashamed-twitter-party-raises-awareness-about-anti-obesity-ads

sorry if this was posted recently, but I think it's important to read.

The stark and hard-hitting Children's Healthcare of Atlanta campaign against childhood obesity struck a nerve among fans that applauded the straight talk and critics that said it was heavy-handed.

Now a very vocal and socially savvy subset of them, mommy bloggers, have struck back.

Last week, a group of them rolled out an organic social media campaign petitioning the hospital's Strong4Life program, which orchestrated the ads, to stop using them, claiming that in the words of one blogger, "shame is no motivator."

Read more: Are health ads targeting 'fat kids' too much?

Using the hashtag #Ashamed on Twitter, they executed a far-reaching and resonating social barrage with the help of the maternal online hub Resourceful Mommy. The “Twitter Party” was the brainchild of Leah Segedie, an influential blogger and social media maven who runs Mamavation, an online support group for mothers.

“When I first saw the Strong4Life billboards, my first reaction was wanting to cry and sleep in my room and eat a box of Twinkies. It touched me that much,” she said in an email interview with HLN.

“I was an overweight child. Later a morbidly obese adult and then lost over 100 lbs. after I had children. I remembered what types of messages caused shame and what messages inspired me. Messages that caused shame made me ‘shut down’ and either NOT listen or go to food as an outlet to make me feel better,” she said.

According to Trendistic, a site that tracks Twitter topics, #Ashamed topped out at appearing in nearly 0.07% of roughly 200 million Tweets that day.

According to Segedie, 544 social media moms joined in the campaign, amassing nearly 5,000 tweets about the issue. In data supplied to HLN from TweetReach, an analytical tool, the campaign garnered 23 million potential impressions in one hour.

While a Children's Healthcare spokeswoman did not immediately respond to an interview request Tuesday, earlier this month Stephanie Walsh, the hospital's medical director of child wellness and a facilitator of the Strong4Life program, told HLN that the public response -- whether positive or negative -- was beneficial in spreading the message.

“I really try to focus on the fact that people are talking about this. We needed this to become front and center,” she said. “We needed to start tackling this as a community. Everybody.”

But the loudest and most vocal messengers have been those who see the ads as off-putting to kids and parents of obese children.

A sampling of #Ashamed tweets included ones like this from Katja P: "Yes! Calling children fat will make even non-overweight kids feel self-conscious & will create eating disorders. #Ashamed"

Another one that got retweeted was this one from PHPinParenting: "So important not to shame parents OR kids. Just encourage, educate and provide PE, sports, healthy food options #ashamed"

Read more: Dr. Drew: Are anti-obesity ads having the desired effect?

Segedie said the campaign has shown results: She is "communicating directly" with Strong4Life to help them create social media mom groups that can filter the second phase of the Strong4Life campaign “to protect children in the state of Georgia from shame tactics.”

“So yes, I’m on it,” she said.

MaximalLife

We've become such a nation of wussies.
And parents with obese kids are just negligent.
Part of the problem is our inability to face the truth, placing self-esteem above objective reality.
I have no problem calling fat kids fat or the parents derelict.
My own kids, and I have 5, are all fit and healthy. They don't have a choice in the matter as I, the parent, am in total control of what they eat and how they exercise every single day. No excuses!

We need more anti-obesity campaigns like this and less fat acceptance, rationalizations, apologies and outright sniveling.
Unless we have the courage to face the pure, undiluted truth, our nation will continue to get fatter and fatter.

Nopedotjpeg

We've become such a nation of wussies.
And parents with obese kids are just negligent.
Part of the problem is our inability to face the truth, placing self-esteem above objective reality.
I have no problem calling fat kids fat or the parents derelict.
My own kids, and I have 5, are all fit and healthy. They don't have a choice in the matter as I, the parent, am in total control of what they eat and how they exercise every single day. No excuses!

We need more anti-obesity campaigns like this and less fat acceptance, rationalizations, apologies and outright sniveling.
Unless we have the courage to face the pure, undiluted truth, our nation will continue to get fatter and fatter.

Just like parents whose kids smoke pot, text while driving, do anything unsafe. I'm sorry, but you're wrong here; and being someone who is obese/was an obese kid, it's not as black and white as everyone would like it to be.

AlsDonkBoxSquat

We've become such a nation of wussies.
And parents with obese kids are just negligent.
Part of the problem is our inability to face the truth, placing self-esteem above objective reality.
I have no problem calling fat kids fat or the parents derelict.
My own kids, and I have 5, are all fit and healthy. They don't have a choice in the matter as I, the parent, am in total control of what they eat and how they exercise every single day. No excuses!

We need more anti-obesity campaigns like this and less fat acceptance, rationalizations, apologies and outright sniveling.
Unless we have the courage to face the pure, undiluted truth, our nation will continue to get fatter and fatter.

I agree, what you propose is the wrong approach. Calling a person fat and feeding into their insecurities isn't the way to fix the issue, education is the way they fix the issue. Sitting around looking at children and saying "you're fat" isn't education, it's belittling and honestly it's bullying. You can educate people without punching them in the gut.

claw0416

Okay, So I may open an even bigger can of worms here, but I have the right to speak just like the parent whose says her children are fit and healthy..

I am over weight weight..Extremely overweight..And yes I am ashamed of myself.. That is not the type of role model I want to be for my girls.. Growing up I was very thin and very active.. Child bearing years did not do me any justice, PCOS, and having a sick dying child did not help either..Food became my comfort..My oldest daughter died at the age of 4, weighing 23 pounds due to heart problems..;I was pregnant with my second child at that time..She was born 8 1/2 weeks premature..weighing in at 4 pounds..SO in my mind I felt the one thing I could do to keep her healthy and to gain weight was to feed her..The doctors encouraged me to give her whatever I could to pack on those calories as she got older.. Well I did, but still maintained a pretty healthy approach.. Never gave her soada, candy or anythign sweet..Unfortunatly my ex husband and his family felt they could buy her love with those little sweet treats..so at the age of 3 she got her first taste of them..Still not at my house..And I will add I had started gaining weight myself..Anyway..she is 9..I have always limited those kinds of items in my house it is a treat to get them, when they do...We eat veggies with every meal, etc.. My daughter and my 2 step daughters are all very active in sports..fall soccer, winter basketball, cheer, swim everyday, and we geocach during the weekends which entails hiking...My girls are very active..Guess what...Two of them are overweight. We actually did the Strong4Life program this year from Atlanta. It was a week long camp for kids who are overweight..It does not attack the kids and tell them they are fat or anything negative..It was probaly the best thing that my family and my step daughters family decided to do. The first part of it was a family weekend where the campers and their parents go for a weekend where the families can learn what the campers are going to be doing during their week long camp. During that weekend, the parents learned how they can be supportive of their children and keeping them on the right track when they came home.. I was a little embarrasssed at first..Because Ia m over weight and I knopw I am alot of the problem with my daughter being where she is..But I wasn't alone..Almost half of the parents there were over weight as well.. Anyway..The weekend taught paretns how to choose the right foods for theri families, about limiting screen time for their kids, for example if your child was on the computer or Wii, hand held games for 30 minutes....then they needed 30 minutes or longer of active time, playing outside, going for a walk or whatever..having the child look at a chart and decide how hungry they were...then onve they started eating eat only until satifiied...not full..They went into half your plate should be fruit and veggies, 1/4 startches, 1/4grain 1/4 protien..It was very imformation..They also wanted the families to set goals for the family in a new healthy life style..with us having 2 families it took our family and my step daughters mom working together to set the goals we wanted in both house holds..It was a fantastic experience..the following month our daughters went to the Strong4Life camp..For a week...It was a wonderfull experience for both of them. Our oldest is more anti social and not as active as our two younger...Well after camp she camp back a totally transformed firl..More postive, and more motivated to get out and do things, she also is alot more conscience about the choices in foods and how much she eats..;The middle child who is mine was the same way, where she is always hungry and loves junk food. She came back alot more conscience of what she eats and knows if she is playing her DSI or watching tv she has to go outside and exercise etc..she is still hungry all the time but chooses apples and thigns like that to eat..
This camp did not attck my children in any way and tell them they were fat..It was a way of teaching them to make the right choices and having fun exercising..It gave them the self esteem they needed..They fully acknowledged they were over weight and did not need someone telling them they were fat. They saw it everyday at school when other girls their age were thinner than there were or could wear things they couldn't.. And they sit there and watch their younger sister eat like a horse and not gain a pound, she is super skinny and has a comples about that..So we have both sides of this. Where me, my two girls and my SDaighters momtehr all need to lose..My husband and our youngest needs to gain.. Anyway, back to the camp..They do a follow up family camp in the fall to help support the kids and the families and motivate them to stay ont he right track..I dont' see this as a fat camp or anything. I truly see this as positive way of life..As for the bill boards..Yeah they hurt! But it opens the eyes of myself and others..We are doing this to our kids and ourselves..But it should be an eye opener into making better choices for ourselves and our kids..Like me..My kids are active and eat healthy..But that was not enough..We had to learn how to transform our way of life..
So what I am getting at is this..I recommend Strong4Life for any family that know they need to change for the better...and keep a positive way of helping themselves and thier children to lose weight. And gain self esteem...I never want to hear someone say my kids are fat or overweight..They know it..They don't need to be reminded..That is where this camp and program came in..A postive outlook

gogophers

I have two opposing opinions on this.

The first is that, psychologically, it would seem that these tactics would not result in any individual child losing weight.

On the other hand, we do have a definite problem with childhood obesity. If the Strong4Life campaign puts that topic onto the table, that is definitely a positive.

claw0416

I have two opposing opinions on this.

The first is that, psychologically, it would seem that these tactics would not result in any individual child losing weight.

On the other hand, we do have a definite problem with childhood obesity. If the Strong4Life campaign puts that topic onto the table, that is definitely a positive.

I think the issue needs to b brought to the table..I am not sure if you have seen some of the billboards..Some are pretty bad..I think there are ways it can be approached without putting it out there so brutal..I don't think the Strong4Life billboards are the same ones as the graphic ones on the Atlanta express way..Strong4Life it advertising a positive outlook on a healthier lifestyle...

And to be honest the billboards with the "Fat kids": on them..No! they don't do anything for the kids except mess with them emotionally, especially if they are overweight and getting picked on at school or having trouble dealing with i it emotionally already..

So personally I am against the Billboards when it comes to pointing out a picture of a overweight child..Maybe it should have a huge woman with a chili dog in one hand and ice cream in another..a child in the back ground saying "I want to be just like m y mom when I grow up" now that is something I can handle and show some of the effects of child hood obesity..B/c I am the first to admit..I am not the role model I want my kids to have..maybe in career, but not in the physical looks dept.. Those kinds of things would make more of an impact and people would give more thought to them..

gogophers

I have two opposing opinions on this.

The first is that, psychologically, it would seem that these tactics would not result in any individual child losing weight.

On the other hand, we do have a definite problem with childhood obesity. If the Strong4Life campaign puts that topic onto the table, that is definitely a positive.

I don't think the Strong4Life billboards are the same ones as the graphic ones on the Atlanta express way..Strong4Life it advertising a positive outlook on a healthier lifestyle...

And to be honest the billboards with the "Fat kids": on them..No! they don't do anything for the kids except mess with them emotionally, especially if they are overweight and getting picked on at school or having trouble dealing with i it emotionally already..

Oh, sorry I'm getting confused between these things. I did mean the "fat kids" billboards, not Strong4Life.