Shadow Puppet Storyteller

A moment of advice

I had a woman whom I don't know approach me today at church to declare her opinion that my young daughter is overweight...in peril of Diabetes, amputation, blindness and heart stress. Maybe not so strangely, this hit me from left field like a scary ol' fellow in a sandwich board suddenly scrambling forward and declaring Armageddon is nigh!. Has my daughter gained enough weight to make me concerned for her health? Marginally, during a fairly low activity summer. Is she still trying to wear some favorite separates that no longer fit her best - Yes. She's only approaching nine-years old. She actually didn't seem as stunned and emotionally caught up in the exchange as I allowed myself to reach. But the sad truth is she is affected. I now feel that I have to monitor very closely her self-esteem and her perceived body image. To me, this is my daughter's first loss of innocence. The societal pressure to be overly conscientious about weight. I'll say it again, my daughter is not yet nine. This moment of "advice" spoken directly in my daughter's presence has placed an expectation on her to not eat sweets so that she not dare bulge forth in public. She takes this stranger's opinion to heart, and now wants to check the labels on foods to limit sugar intake. And I've been obligated to a path to assure that she not take another extreme -- the perfection extreme that saddens and kills even younger lives than I believe Diabetes claims.