You’ve no doubt seen the video of ‘Little Hercules’, the young boy from the Ukraine who’s been called a mini Schwarzenegger?  You know, the one whose parents had him bench pressing before he was six?  Or maybe you’ve watched the three and four year old girls with fake tans, teeth, and nails,  parading across pageant stages, performing a strut that they’ve honed in front of their parents, in hopes (the parents’, presumably) of being crowned ‘Little Miss something-or-other’?  Those sweet little girls whose mothers closely monitor their diets so they don’t have ‘baby fat’ in their costumes?

When I was a gymnast, at ten years old, clearly having not reached puberty yet, my coach told me I was too fat to get on the bars.  Believe me, I was far from fat.  I had the body of a 7-year old boy!  I had a close friend in high school who was an elite level ballet dancer.  She had incredible talent, but was told by one of the school’s principal dancers that she was too big to go anywhere with her dancing. So she spent the next five years of her life in and out of treatment for anorexia.

Maybe you know kids – or parents – like this.  I recently heard that an acquaintance of mine made her kids do a bootcamp-style workout before she ‘awarded’ them with baking.  What is this teaching these kids? That food is a reward for gruelling work? That you don’t deserve treats once in a while, just because?  I am by no means claiming to be Mother of the year here, but I really think that a healthy attitude about exercise, food and body image starts at home and stays with us for a long time.

Can’t we just encourage our kids to try new activities?  Teach them how to play.  Just PLAY! Not Nintendo. Not World of War Craft.  How about tag? Rounders? Soccer? Playing in the park?  Even organized sport is a very healthy outlet for children.  But when a child has to ‘earn’ food or starve to fit in, there is something very, very wrong.  Kids need to win and lose.  Kids need to know that you still love them, even if they lose.  Let kids have their OWN dreams… don’t make them live yours.

~ Asha Belisle