Mommy Bloggers' Flawed Take on Anti-Obesity Ads (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | According to HLN, the newest and most vocal critics of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta's anti-obesity ad campaign are a group known as "mommy bloggers." These angry mothers feel the controversial ads, which depict obese children as unhappy and suffering from medical maladies, do more harm than good by shaming children instead of encouraging them. Critics argue that shaming tactics only lead to greater tendencies to overeat and can lead to higher numbers of eating disorders.

Shaming is a key point in the volleys of arguments.

While shaming can be horrid and abusive, I worry we've become a society so indulgent and fearful of shame that we are woefully lax and can hardly motivate or discipline our youth. We want to only use the carrot and never the stick. The problem for kids: The stick eventually finds you.

The stick is called the real world. Real life. Life beyond childhood and school-age indulgences.

While it hurts to think we might need to shame an overweight child, are we so naive as to think his or her first boss will be as indulgent as the parents or schoolteachers of yesteryear? Will a callous public be as politically correct and caring when the overweight person is an adult rather than a child?

As a young adult I've seen the differences between the real world I live in today and can compare them to the comparative ease of my high school and college days, still relatively fresh in my memory. The real world rarely gives second chances. The real world expects performance and results.

As a high school teacher I marvel at the apathy of many students and try to explain to them that, in a few short years, they will be studying or laboring under far different circumstances - for bosses and professors who do not give the second chances we K-12 teachers provide.

The real world does not hesitate to use shame or the proverbial stick. It can be a tough world, as I'm finding out while figuring a budget and looking at staggering real estate prices in a local market saturated with oil money. While it may be cruel to shame a child, what about a teen who is approaching sixteen and is only a few years away from adulthood?

We need to get results on our war on obesity. Fast.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weightloss/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120201/hl_ac/10914441_mommy_bloggers_flawed_take_on_antiobesity_ads

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