This week I came across two very interesting videos on YouTube. I thought I would share them with you. They are not really related (except that they have kids in them) but they both made me think about food and how we view our bodies.
The first video is from the Jimmy Kimmel Show. In this bit, he's asked viewers to film their children's reactions when they tell them that they ate all of their Halloween candy. You can see their reactions for yourself.
Let's not argue the comedic value of the bit or whether parents should be pranking their kids like this and instead let's look at the reactions the kids have. Some reactions are sweet with the kids consoling their parents and others are full blown tantrums. The tantrums are what make us laugh but if we examine the behavior a little more, what struck me was the fact that these intense reactions highlight our kids obsession with sweets. I'm wondering how the food environments differ in the households. I'd argue that we saw calm and understanding reactions from households where the parents don't over-restrict sweets and the tantrums are seen more in homes where candy is restricted on a regular basis. We'll never know and there's no way to judge that but it's just my guess. What would your child's reaction be if you pulled this prank on them? Would it reflect your food environment?
The second video is from the Jubilee Project. The video asked one question to 50 different people. The question is, "If you could change one thing about your body, what would it be?" See the reactions and answers to that question below.
Two very different types of answers, all dependent on the age of the person they asked. Isn't it amazing how different the answers are? Without years of body shame, the first thing that came to mind was how these kids could change their bodies to become superheros. They didn't want smaller waists, different noses or more muscles...they wanted wings, mermaid tails and teleportation. They wanted to be larger-than life. The adult's answers were obviously much different. Their comments reflected how most of us feel about our body and the desire to change how we look to fit some ideal. The video closes with hearing an older woman say, "A lot of people obsess about getting older and about the wrinkles. I love my white hair.. I loved it when it started turning white. It's one of those things, because I chose to stay this way because it just wouldn't be me if I changed the way I looked." Beautifully put.
As you think about both of these videos, I'll leave you with this thought. Let's support one another in our imperfections. We don't eat a perfect diet, we might make mistakes with feeding our children and we don't have a perfect body. But those imperfections are what make us who we are. I for one, like many of you perhaps, could do a better job of remembering that.
