From someone who personally struggles with weight issues, let me just say that maybe my mom ISN'T to blame. She too is overweight as was my grandfather and greatgrandmother. The other half of my family is normal weight. My mom raised myself and 4 cousins. Three of us are overweight the other 2 aren't. We ate the same food, participated in the same activities. We live in the South where we did get grits and sausage for breakfast (which by the way would not have been an issue if people knew more about portion control). The difference is that my 2 "normal" cousins have higher metabolisms than the rest of us. Should my mom have forced us to eat less than the "normal" cousins? Or should she have pushed us to excercise more? And where would she have learned portion control or healthy cooking techniques? From her overweight father? Perhaps he should have learned that from his overweight mother?
Maybe what this world needs is a little more education and a little less judgement.
I am extremely overweight and I'm working my butt off everyday to lose it. At what age was my weight problem no longer my mom's fault...16, 18, 21? One day does that responsibility become mine? All I can say is that I KNOW without a doubt that my mom did everything she could for me. I can say that the judgemental people of the world didn't make me want to lose weight. All they made me want to do is go to my room and cry and eat to fill the void.
I'm not saying it's right to push food on your child as a babysitter, in fact just the opposite, but I am saying that you can't judge a book by its cover. There are plenty of people on Disability due to being paralyzed from drinking and driving or being shot because their drug deal went bad or from traumatic brain injuries from overdoses or from cancer from smoking. I go to work everyday and pay my taxes just like everyone else and I deserve the same benefits as every other American.
__________________  Misty & Jamie
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