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Hope for 'Generation Fat': NASCAR, Obesity as
the norm and movies at the dentist
Tuesday - 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 internetand created a stir. The boomers saw the best
financial opportunity to come along since Reaganomicsand they threw their money at us. They didn't care
about sound business so long as our name had .comat 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. NASCARis 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 NFLgame 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
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