Childhood Obesity Vent

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Childhood Obesity Vent
614
Sat, 02-05-2005 - 2:46pm

I haven't posted in a few months, so I hope you remember me ;) Our computer was down (finally got myself a brand new shiny one last week!) and well . . . . life is busy. Anyway, I hope to post more often again - I was just getting to know some of you when our computer went out. So . . . . . my topic of the day that I am enraged about.

I found out at a PTO meeting last week that the Texas Legislature is trying to pass a new law to go in to effect for the 2006-07 school year which states that teachers MUST include the childs WEIGHT and BMI on their report cards. I am so angry, I could lose my mind over it.

First of all - teachers are not health care professionals. Secondly - by listing a childs weight and BMI on a report card, we are helping childhood obesity how? And can I have that of the teachers while your at it? I was told that the snow-cone machine was no longer in use, because it "doesn't meet the state's nutritional guidelines" - a snowcone!?! And we serve WHAT in our school cafeteria?

Why don't you start some classes to help educate parents, re-vamp the school cafeteria so that kids CAN make better choices, because what they have to choose from can't be all that swell. Do you think that obesity is 100% controlled at home - or will the school take some of that responsibility for it? And in a society that already has enough body-image problems, how will this help.

Am I nuts for getting worked up about this? Has anyone else heard of this in their state? Looking forward to hearing what everyone has to say!

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 02-08-2005 - 4:22pm
Nope!
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-1997
Tue, 02-08-2005 - 4:23pm
Oh, my! Now you're getting WAY too personal! ;-0
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-05-2005
Tue, 02-08-2005 - 4:23pm

Oh, they can end up entirely on the wrong career path. And its not so easy to change, as you should well know, having apparently, done it. I think the only people who really know much at all about what sort of actual social environment they are in for when they get out there...are those who stay squarely in the educational environment - where they've always been.

You are actually higlighting a big part of the problem. Defining a career path, primarily in terms of interest, probably leads to more unhappy employees than anything else. The work environment and the nature of the work are two entirely different things. I see it regularily in my field. A love of technology and computers does not keep one gainfully employed anywhere in any technology field. A good deal of social skill, and ability to work under pressure and stress - is actually required in order to succeed. Its not really "about technology". Its almost always "about solving problems and dealing with disaster while making the other human beings around you, or on the other end of the phone, feel all warm and fuzzy". In fact, those who do well in my field would probably also do reasonably well as garage mechanics, or emergency room doctors and nurses, or in a combat unit. In fact, most peace time militaries could do well to re assign their bored battle starved generals to their IT departments...

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 02-08-2005 - 4:23pm
Now, now, don't go saying "devout." That's one of them there offensive religious words.
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-1997
Tue, 02-08-2005 - 4:27pm
Oh, I've been on several career paths in my life....did 'em all as long as what I enjoyed doing about them outweighed the tedious parts. So far this gig is as good as it gets, but if that changes, I am open to something else. My pastor keeps showing seminary brochures at me.....maybe someday. Who knows?
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-05-2005
Tue, 02-08-2005 - 4:30pm
Sometimes keeping that job is how one creates, or works towards, future more suitable opportunities for onesself. A little skill in being able to work with the environment, even if ones natural tendancy is to go against it, can go a long way to preventing stress related illness. And people learn valuable things by doing that too.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-28-2003
Tue, 02-08-2005 - 4:32pm
Well, I could say passionate instead of devout but I know you are still trying to shrug off the lesbian image from the make-up thread and you know how people here tend to twist everything...
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 02-08-2005 - 4:32pm
Not so's you'd notice it, LOL. But then again, he decided I was the woman for him after our first conversation, which was me taunting him for being too gentlemanly to hit me with a snowball after I'd pelted him in the face with one at a distance of about 6 feet. Can't say he didn't know what he was in for.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 02-08-2005 - 4:37pm

LOL! But you didn't read it quite right, I don't care if anyone (other than my DH) (incorrectly) thinks I'm a lesbian.

(If I change my sexuality, you'll be the first person I'd call, though, baby! Hope that's not threatening to you!)

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-05-2005
Tue, 02-08-2005 - 4:38pm

But will they be savvy enough to know how to encourage that job to hold onto them?

If they don't like a job but need it, it would be prudent for them to understand that letting that dislike hang out there, however unconsciously, would be a bad idea. They might want to consider going into boss-pleasing mode at that point and take some fairly conscious steps to see to it that their ... real perspective ... were hidden.

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