I Just Don't Understand

Every morning is the same, well, weekday mornings, that is. Danny gets his coffee, turns on CNN and then goes back and forth between that and 2 local Atlanta channels for weather. Usually I sit and watch the same old news every day and wonder if they get tired of reporting the same thing. This morning, though, I saw them report on teenagers and fashion. They had a new line "Forever 21" and the sizes went up to size 30 for teens that were curvier, heavier, and the line was fashionable. Teens were on there saying how much they liked it because they didn't have to try and fit into clothes that were too tight or wear "older" clothes only because of the fit. Then they had a lady come on saying that the "new line" was giving the wrong impression to teens. It was giving them the impression that obesity and being heavy is okay and will give them the opportunity to stay that way. Usually I would shrug my shoulders and wait for Danny to change the channel, but being an "overweight teen", and not having those kind of clothes then, I can relate. Some teens don't have to worry about being overweight. They had the "right genes" to be thin or "not as curvy" as the others. No matter how much you cut down eating and playing outside, sometimes those inches stay on. Summers as a teen were spent outside...we didn't have video games until late in my teen years, and when we did get it, we played at night time. There was no computer, no cell phone, just hours of being outside doing whatever...whether it was croquet, baseball, football, tennis, long walks, and sometimes staying out until 2 a.m. with the whole neighborhood playing Ghost in the Graveyard. All that time, we never heard, "Your child is overweight because he/she watches too much T.V., on the computer, sitting and texting, it was unheard of, but kids were overweight nonetheless. Yeah, it's more of a problem today, and people focus more on it because of health issues, but if you look back, kids were overweight then, too, just the focus was on other issues. Am I saying that we, as a whole, should overlook obesity, no, but we shouldn't force those who are to look like they are. They should be able to look nice, dressed in nice clothing, feeling good about themselves, not wondering if a seam will pop or a button will go, or a zipper will tear. We can still focus on better health, but why not look and feel good while doing it?