A recently airing KFC commercial promotes it's meal deal as "very streetwise", featuring a mom bouncing a soccer ball in front of her kids, purportedly relishing all the time and cash she saved by picking up fried chicken on the way home.
Seriously?
Summer is upon us, and there are lots of school kids wearing their summer clothes. And the proliferation of 8 and 9 year old pot-bellied kids is really stunning to me. And it makes me quite sad.
I remember some of the stress I used to feel about body image as a kid. And I have a 5 8, slim body, with feminine curves where they should be! I remember stressing out about being cute and fit. Still do, occasionally, truth be told.
What must these young girls go through while eyeing the overflowing belly fat over their new summer shorts? How stressed must they be feeling as they are squeezing into a bathing suit for summer pool parties? How brutal is it to be buying dress sizes four or five "ages" older than you actually are?
Those sizes and numbers matter to kids - even if they are powerless to control what their parents are modelling, and eating as an example, and stocking in their fridges and cupboards.
While shopping in the US a couple months ago, I noticed a sign indicating that they had re-jigged all their children's sizes. Small would now be considered extra small. Medium would now be considered Small. L would now be M. XL = L and XXL now = XL.
Why? Cause' the kids are just too big now, and it's messing with their heads! They hate being LARGE at age 9. They hate being a SIZE 16 when they're 10. And who in their right mind can blame them?
I hate that so many people of every single age are abdicating their responsibility for their foods to massive companies, with staggering marketing budgets, and animal factories whose only job it is to sell you as much as they can. Moreover, if they can convince you that you are "doing it for your family" to "save time", so much the better.
Now...how did I get onto this soapbox again?
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