Child Workout Video

*I'm going to start this post off with a disclaimer that I am in no way or form a doctor and I do not have children.*

Today, while browsing through Pintrest, I found this video:

The video was accompanied by a comment from a Pinner that said,

"My daughter LOVES Power Girl Fitness. She spends HOURS working out with this Marketing Powerhouse--9 year old!" 

I watched the entire video and it honestly made me a little uncomfortable. It was strange to see a young girl with two of her "friends" bouncing around in booty shorts and bras doing workout moves that seem to me should be reserved for adults.

I thought it was strange that this girl, Jessy, was sprouting off comments about getting "strong and lean" and "being in the best shape of your life." The audience she's talking to are young girls. They haven't lived much of life! They are growing still and their current body is whatever shape and size it needs to be to allow them to continue growing.

I then went onto the website and instantly saw this comment:

"Dear Jessy, I would like to thank you for teaching me how to exercise! I have always eaten healty, ate in moderation, and stayed away from sodas and candy, but I never felt as healthy or as strong as I have since your workouts! I started your workouts when I began exercising, and over time they became easier and easier for me to do, and I knew my muscles were becoming stronger! Now I am applying this to sports such as running, which I now enjoy to do! Before I could barely run down the street, and did you know now I can run for thirty minutes? And this is only after a month and a half! Weight wise, I lost seven pounds and a total of 11 inches off of my body! YAYAYAYAYAAA Hahah so thank you so much!
Ashlea"

I'm sorry, but what young girl needs to a.) know about how much she weighs, and b.) lose 7 pounds and 11 inches?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for kids being healthy, active, and eating right. But what happened to letting them run outside after dinner with the neighborhood kids? What about Little League and other organized sports that allow them to socialize while staying healthy?

When I was young, my mom put us in sports that we enjoyed. We did swim team in the summer, my sister did softball in the fall, and my other sister did dance and gymnastics. Each of these sports allowed us to stay healthy while also engaging with other children and learning how to be a team and work with others. My mom also made dinner for us every night and didn't allow us to eat junk food. We were healthy kids. We were the correct weight that we were supposed to be at that age. I can't honestly remember thinking about being "fat" before the age of 15. I'm sure that if any of our weights were of concern to my parents or doctors, my mom would have nudged us into another sport or physical activity. She wouldn't, however, made us budget 20 minutes of our day to do a workout video. 

It's just so strange to me to that there are young girls out there that are in their houses for "hours" a day working out to a workout video. I find it sad that todays world, T.V., movie stars, whatever you want to blame, has made it so that young girls are already worried about their bodies this much. It worries me that Jessy states that her videos are only "20 minutes long so you don't have an excuse not to work out." I don't think young girls should be "working out." They should be engaging in physical activity to keep themselves healthy, but they don't need to worry about fitting in a workout video into their schedules.

I understand that not all kids are into competitive team sports. Believe me, I can't catch or hit a ball to save my life (breaking my finger three times is tribute to that.) However, there are other ways for kids to get healthy physical activity such as riding their bikes, swimming (not necessarily on a team,) running around with other kids, taking walks with their parents, dancing, the list goes on and on. None of these activities focus on losing weight, toning up, or "being in the best shape of your life." These activities allow kids to maintain a healthy weight while still being kids without the pressure to be skinny or look good.

I hope that if/when I have children, no matter what gender, they will be healthy. I hope that I provide them with food to fuel their bodies and are able to put them in activities that allow their bodies to grow and maintain a healthy weight that is prescribed by their doctors, not society. I know that children tease and pick on others that are different then themselves, but I hope that my children will learn to love their bodies no matter what shape and size it is. I hope that they will never feel so self conscious that they will hold themselves up in the house and do a workout video. I hope they will never worry about the number on the scale or the size of their thighs. I also hope that I can be a role model to them. Obviously, I'm not a size 2 and I never will be. Even when I swam competitively and was at practice for 5 hours a day, the smallest I got was a size 10. I hope to be that size again, but I want to do it the healthy way. I know that I will never be the smallest girl around and I'm sure my children won't either (three of their grandparents are over 6 feet tall.) I hope that one day I will learn to appreciate my body for what it is and I hope I can pass that down to my children.

When I first saw Jessy's video, I felt sad. I was sad that this young girl was already worried about the number on the scale and what size her body is. I understand that children need activity to stay healthy, I just feel like there are other, more kid friendly ways to do so that are not so numbers focused. I believe that children should be active because they're kids. They have a lot of energy to burn off and running outside with the neighborhood kids or doing a sport can help that. I personally believe that videos like this one are contributing to the problem our society has with weight loss/gain and appearance. If my future child wants to do this video because they like the exercises, then that's fine. I just wouldn't want them to do it just to lose weight or try and fit into what society thinks is beautiful.

Thursday Tidbits

I promised myself as I got closer to the wedding I wouldn't stop blogging. Obviously that's gone well....

So to catch up on my life, here are some Thursday Tidbits in list form: 

• My birthday was on Monday. 23 on the 23rd, otherwise known as my golden birthday. It was a pretty low-key birthday. I took the day off work, worked on some wedding stuff, Keegan came home 2 hours early and surprised me with flowers and took me out to dinner. He also bought me my swallow decal that was on my birthday list. I also managed to score another pair of my shoes from a Shoe Dept. in Tuscaloosa. They were originally $99 and I got them for $35. Win. 

I lurves it. 

• Tomorrow (Friday) is my last day of work before the wedding. I took off next Monday and Tuesday, and then we leave late Tuesday night / early Wednesday morning for Missouri. Holy crap! 
• Somehow, instead of losing weight before the wedding, I've actually gained about 5 pounds. What happened to magically losing weight the weeks before your wedding due to stress? I haven't changed how I'm eating or not exercising, so I'm not sure where it came from. And no, I'm not pregnant. Just keepin' it real. 
• I still don't have my wedding jewelry. Somehow, I'm not worried. 
• However, I am scared about the drive to Missouri. I can just see it now: Me driving my newish car on a route I've never driven myself, Keegan driving his '71 Corvette, both of us in the dark. We're going to break down in the middle of Arkansas with no cell reception. I just know it. 
• Still excited about my rehearsal dress. Getting more excited about my wedding dress. 
• We've had a few last minute RSVPs (and a few people who still haven't RSVP'd.) I found out on Wednesday that my uncle on my dad's side is coming with one of my cousins. That brings my family count (not including my immediate family) up to ....6 I think. Out of 112. Oy vey. 
• I'm ridiculously excited about our honeymoon. 5 nights in a cabin with a hot tub and heart jacuzzi tub? Yes please! I'm just not so excited about the drive from Missouri to Mississippi and then to Tennessee. It'll be a long couple of days. There's no way to celebrate being newlyweds like driving for 2 days, right? 
• Sunday night, around midnight, we heard dogs fighting outside of our bedroom window. I wanted to go outside and break them up, but Keegan reassured me that they'd be ok. I told him I better not wake up to a dead dog on our lawn on my birthday. Guess what I woke up to.....
• One of Keegan's interns turned 21 on Tuesday the 24th. He came in late to work on Wednesday because they were out until 2 a.m. drinking. I kind of miss those wild college days.  
• We're getting married in 8 days. 

I'm going to try and update a few more times before the wedding, but with all that we have left to do and traveling, I'm sure it'll be light. I'll make sure to to a last post before the ring, though! 

Have a great weekend! 

Too Soon...A Conclusion

So a few days ago, I posted about a young man who went to high school, Sterling Wyatt, who died in Afghanistan on July 11 from an IED. I also posted about how the Westboro Baptist Church was planning on protesting his funeral. One of his friends heard about the WBC protesting his funeral, and asked people to wear red and make a human wall so that his friends and family wouldn't be affected by the WBC's hateful messages.

Today was Sterling's funeral. Thousands of people lined the streets for hours in downtown Columbia wearing red to hide the WBC and most importantly, show support for his family.

Source

The crowd splitting to allow his mother and brother to pass onto the funeral home. 

There were so many people showing their support that the WBC was hardly noticed. According to the Columbia Dailey Tribune, "The protesters, mostly members of the Phelps family, arrived shortly after noon and were gone by 12:45 p.m. Several attendees near the church asked whether the group had shown up at all." 

The love and support that poured onto the streets of downtown Columbia amazes me. I love Columbia; it's my hometown and I am proud to call it my as such. My love has grown exponentially after seeing what happened to honor Sterling. There were so many different "types" of people, all there to show support and gratitude for Sterling and his family. As Matt, a past professor of mine wrote on his blog, "There were Christians and agnostics and atheists there. There were Republicans and Democrats and Libertarians there. There were blacks and whites and asians there. There were artists and teachers and politicians there. There were babies and teenagers and old people there. There were gay and straight and questioning people there. There were rich and poor and homeless people there. There were veterans and conscientious objectors and peaceniks there."

I think Matt explained the "reason" thousands of people in red descended on Columbia's downtown best, "There was a moment when Sterling’s mother was making her way toward the church, and the crowd parted for her. As she moved through a wave of clapping began to take shape. Wave after wave built into an ovation that lasted for minutes on end. It was a whole community of support – not making it any easier, not pretending it was all ok – but recognizing her sacrifice. We’ve been in these damn wars for so long now and most of us don’t have to count the cost so we needed to see her face. We needed to be near her and respect her. She’s paying. Her son paid. They paid in real blood and real tears and real years gone. If the only thing Columbia could give this woman was an ovation of encouragement, if all we could do was let her memory of this day be filtered through our good wishes and red shirts, if our best job was to keep her from seeing the blasphemy that the Westboro picketers brought… then we did well. We couldn’t make it better, but we kept them from making it worse." 

I am proud of Columbia. I'm proud of the people that rallied together to show their respect and honor Sterling and his family. I'm proud that Sterling's funeral was peaceful. There were no problems between the WBC and the community. I wish that I was able to be there, but I showed my respects for Sterling in other ways. Things like this make a town great. 

Here is a video about Sterling's funeral and the people who came out to support him. 

It looks like even the local construction crew showed their support 

All above photos taken from this Facebook group unless otherwise noted. 

Thursday Randoms

• This is going to sound strange, but I think you can tell what part of their life someone's in by what they pin on Pintrest. Examples: One of my friends is going to grad school so she pins organizational ideas, study tips and apartment decorating. Another one of my friends has a young child so her board are full of child tips, toddler crafts and how to make your own baby food. Lastly, another one of my friends has been in a serious relationship for a while and obviously hopes to get engaged soon by the fact she's pinning wedding ideas non-stop. However, no matter what part of life they're in, everyone seems to pin workout ideas and motivational sayings. I feel like that says something. 
• The one thing I miss most about home (besides my friends/family and the awesome restaurants) is the sense of community. I loved running into someone I knew at the grocery store/Starbucks/on campus. I don't have that yet here. If I run into anyone, it's mostly patrons from the art gallery who honestly, I try and avoid like the plague. 
• Apart from the whole getting married and seeing friends/family thing, the part of the wedding I'm looking forward to the most is the honeymoon. I need a vacation. Bad. 5 days held up in a cabin with my new husband in the mountains with no technology? Yes please. (Get your mind out of the gutter.) 
• Having a summer camp at your place of work is really good birth control. It also reassures you why you didn't become a teacher in the first place. 
• As much as I want a kid, it still weirds me out to know that some of my friends have kids. Not that they're bad parents, on the contrary, they're amazing parents. Its just strange to think that at 21, 22, 23 years old, some of my friends have kids. 
• I'm turning 23 on Monday. For some strange reason, 23 seems so old, but Keegan turing 25 doesn't. I think I just have a thing about numbers. 
• I'm honestly a little jealous of my friends who are going to grad school. Believe me, I don't want to deal with the tests, papers and writing a thesis. I'm just jealous that they don't have to "grow up" yet and get "real" job and pay for a mortgage, car and bills. I know I'm insanely lucky to have a house and car and bills at the age of 22, but sometimes, for a little while, I miss the carefree lifestyle of a college student. 
• There are days, like today, that I just really miss Keegan. No matter how long I saw him yesterday or how long I'll see him tonight, I just miss him. I can't wait to snuggle up with him.  

So What! Wednesday

I'm linking up with Shannon at Live After I "Dew" again for another So What! Wednesday.

So What...

...if I bought 5 pints of raspberries yesterday and then promptly proceeded to devour an entire pint as soon as I got home. They were $1 each and much healthier for me than the cookies I was eying.

...if I've decided we're cleaning out our pantry and fridge before leaving for Missouri for the wedding and honeymoon. Guess that just means we're eating a lot of pasta for the next two weeks.

....if no matter how much my ovaries and uterus beg for a baby as soon as we're married, we've decided that it's better to wait a while. Keegan still owes me a trip to Ireland and I'm not doing that while pregnant or with a baby in tow.

 ...if Keegan may have considered the thought of getting a dog or cat just to slow down my baby cravings.

...if I won't get my passport back in time to go visit family in Canada. While I'm sad we won't get to see them until probably next summer, I'm glad that we're going to be able to have a relaxing week in a cabin in the Smokey Mountains.

...if I'm ridiculously excited for next weekend. Keegan, myself, and three of his interns are going to Beale Street in Memphis. I've never been and two of the interns just turned 21 so we're going to have an awesome time. Just think of it as my last fling before the ring....with three boys and my fiancé.

Scratch that. I wast just told that none of the interns can go anymore. Now I need a trip to Beale Street and Ireland before we can get to the baby makin'

What are you saying So What! to this week?








On a more serious note, on Monday, I posted about two young men from my hometown who lost their lives serving overseas. It has come to the attention of one of the men's families that the Westboro Baptist Church will be protesting his funeral on Saturday. I have written an update about what is happening here. I typically don't like talking about religious or political things, but this has hit too close to home for me to stay quiet.