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Hope for 'Generation Fat': NASCAR, Obesity as the norm and movies at the
dentist
Tue - September 13, 2005
I've often wondered of the fate
my generation's children, "Generation Fat". They are the ones who are constantly
attached to a distraction device. Whether that device is a cellphone, DVD
player, Gameboy, iPod
; you will rarely find a parent of my generation being a parent in the
traditional sense with such Parental Assistance Devices (PADs) on the
market.My generation,
Generation
X , grew up the children
of the Baby
Boomer generation: quite
possibly the most self-involved generation this planet has ever seen. Children
my age, with siblings, not only had to compete for parental attention with each
other, we had to compete with our parents' own inner children's needs. It's as
if their own parents, the Greatest Generation, who saved the world and survived
the great depression were the Hilton
Family and they; the
Paris and Nicky Hiltons of the world, secure in the fact that they had inherent
entitlements and that this is their planet, ripe for their gain.
That's
hot!
Like any generation,
the boomers have done some good as stewards of the planet. When us Gen-Xers were
coming up, there was much talk of our apathy, our disinterest in doing anything
productive in the world. Then we surprised them: we took hold of the
internet
and created a stir. The boomers saw the best financial opportunity to come along
since Reaganomics
and they threw their money at us. They didn't care about sound business so long
as our name had .com
at the end of it. They packed billions into a paper tiger and following new
years of the new millennium it all fell
apart . Hey, at least
Amazon, Google, Yahoo, and Ebay survived. RIP
pets.com
. So, what of
Generation Fat? They're being raised by Gen-xers who learned Parenting 101 from
our parents. We view divorce and custody issues with indifference. We hyphenate
our last names with reckless disregard for the names of our children. Both
parents must work because, well, that's what our parents fought for: the right
to be a "Working Mother". Funny that one who dedicates his or her life to
raising their child is a "Stay-at-home parent" and not a
"parent".It is also
financially more difficult to raise a kid now than ever before in this country.
So, burned out from working 40 hours a week, and convinced that it shouldn't
take much too much to raise a kid better than we were, we plop our kids down in
front of PADs. It makes them happy, and it allows us those zen-full moments
where we get to think about ourselves and surf our
internet.Forget about
exercising our kids... Madden NFL Football on the Xbox should suffice. Besides,
it seems to make them happy. When company comes over with their kids, forget
about sending them outside to play. You can just sit them around a TV. Besides,
it seems to make them happy. How about feeding 'em? Fast food isn't healthy, but
it beats cooking and they seem to like it. Hell, you can even send them to a
dentist that
has goggles they can
watch movies on while having cavities filled. Parenting has never been
easier!Society is
shaping itself for Generation Fat. NASCAR
is becoming huge in this country, and it has a significance outside of the
Nextel Cup point standings. It is a primarily spectator sport that children
can't go out and emulate, allowing them to avoid exercise. It isn't like
watching an NFL
game on TV and then putting together a 3-on-3 football game with kids in your
neighborhood. It is a sport with no readily-apparent physical component - and
its athletes can range anywhere from 20 to 45 in age. Make no mistake, the
drivers are athletes in fit shape, but there is no compelling reason for
spectators; specifically children, to emulate that like there is in any other
sport. You watch NASCAR on TV and then you switch the TV to channel 3 and you
fire up the Xbox. Hey, it may not be healthy, but the kids seem
happy.It likely won't
be long before the media begins shaping the image of health and beauty (which
have always been criticized as unrealistic) to be more, well, round. One trend
now seems to be women in short shirts and low-slung waistlines that reveal their
midriffs. It's sexy on women with flat stomachs, but go anywhere and you'll see
plenty of young, overweight teenagers bulging out of these outfits, oblivious to
how far they are stretching the concept of the beauty their parents grew up
knowing. Is it a good thing to accept one's body as it is and not struggle for
superficial perfection? Probably. But when the human animal begins to shape its
ideal lifestyle toward laziness and convenience, rather than health, achievement
and personal development; when we instill these things in our offspring, we fall
farther from the garden of eden and closer to the fall of the Rome.
That's Hot!
Posted at 10:53 PM < Just Another Brick in the Blog  Email this story
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