I Was Wiping Away the Tears Tonight!

Before Photo

This week seems to be full of "Grandma Do's".  On Monday night I went swimming with my oldest granddaughter.  She is participating in a very comprehensive 10 week Healthy You program.  As of late I have been the designated driver and partner attendee for her.

I've been listening to tips on eating healthy at least once a week over the past few weeks.  I've been working out, dancing, and getting more exercise in our goal to succeed at weight management.  

At tonight's class we watched a documentary which was done around 2003 entitled "Fat Like Me".  They dressed up a teenager in a fat suit for 24 hours and had her attend a different high school for a day.  The students reaction to her was that of laughter, snide remarks, and flat out rejection.

We have work to do!

The students were stunned when they saw her without the fat suit afterward when she went back to let them know who she really was.  The panel discussion they had as part of the documentary questioning the students about their reactions to the student being overweight was tear jerking. 

The part which touched me the most was when a family with seven children had one obese child who was even teased by her own father and brother about her weight.  The mother's stance was admirable when she sat the husband down and let him know "we did this" and "we need to make it right."  Okay if this was the part where we needed to raise our hands showing guilt I would have had to raise mine as well.

I recall when my granddaughter was younger any time she wanted to go to eat out, wanted ice cream, wanted candy, wanted anything well she got it.  I realized it was getting out of hand one day when we passed one hamburger joint when we were out and by the time we came across another one she wanted to stop again.  I thought to myself it is no way she can be hungry again that soon.

Here we are years later and I'm reaping what I helped to sow.  I try and encourage her to eat healthy all the time now. She thankfully loves healthier selections like salads, vegetables, and fruits over meats.

We're making a good start after swimming and hot tub!

Well the most incredible part of the session tonight was when I heard some of the accounts of the parents in the room after the documentary.  One lady told of how one of her sons was bullied by "the teacher".  Then another lady had a similar account.  I was sitting there with tears falling down my face as she recounted how her son came home from school and wanted to kill himself because of it.  How truly sad.  One of the children in middle-school wanted to end his life due to how he has been bullied about his weight.  What parent deserves for their child to be humiliated by the very person who is considered a person in authority? 

Well seeing how emotional the parent became with telling the story filled me with emotion as well.  When another parent had a similar story water fountain (tears) were streaming down my face. 

The session made me realize I need to continue to do as much as I can to help my grandchild manage her weight.  She is disciplined in regards to her eating habits in a lot of ways. I don't want her to suffer the debilitating treatment received by youth just because they are overweight.  As a family we feel it is more of her to love but unfortunately we can look to other children and society to view her the same way.  We are at completely different sides of the spectrum on this issue.

What a full day!  PTA Fall Festival attended before tonight's health session.

I will go swimming, workouts, walking, and most anything else I can do to help her with her weight management goals and directives.  She too has been called fat so, fat, ugly and been bullied because of her weight.

After tonight it made me realize she may be suffering more than I could have imagined.  When I was her age I wasn't a bully but the bullies didn't mess with me either.  I normally helped defend the defenseless from the bullies.  I hated to see other people bullied.  I just can't imagine why people are so blatantly cruel intentionally to a minor child or to anyone.

I'm going to add a whole lot more prayer to this routine because she is a sweet girl and she doesn't deserve any foul treatment because of her weight. Tonight was a wake up call as to how we can't control how cruel others may treat her due to her weight.  She was wearing a devil costume tonight but she doesn't live the part.  She is sweet as apple pie. Now I'm wondering if it would be taking things overboard to be a full-time volunteer at her school and be at her beck and call all day. 

 Admittedly, I have put on about the same number of overweight pounds she has because I was taking things out of proportionate moderation as much as she was when it was coming to enjoying mom's cooking, sweets and fast food we loved.   We're going to do this weight control journey together.