Today I read a letter written by the 5th grader of one of the formerly morbidly obese women. It really hit home and really hit me on why I'm trying to make changes in my life. It especially hit home because my son will be in the 5th grade next year.
She talks about how she's a child of an obese mother and how, even though she loves her mother, she knows that if she doesn't lose weight, she will die early. How she feels like her mom needs to choose her over food. I hope I'm allowed to post it here. I found it on other sites, so I'm going to assume it is.
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I was in the fifth grade when I finally
realized my mom wasn’t like the other mommies.
Even though in so many ways she was the best mother in the world due to
her strong involvement in our lives through school, sport, talent shows, and
the like, it was in fifth grade when I noticed my mother wasn’t normal; she was
obese.
Once I noticed my mother was this
overweight, it wasn’t long before I understood the disadvantages that came with
that fact. I soon appreciated every day
with her more and more because I had no idea how many days she might have
left. It wasn’t like it was just her
problem anymore; it was mine too. I
would worry that her obesity would catch up with her. I couldn’t just put it in the back of my mind
either because as a child, your mother is everything.
As a child of an obese mother, I just
want you to know that if you’re overweight and you have children…they worry
about it, and they worry about you.
They may not say they worry about it
or even act like they notice, but I can promise you that they do. When you decided to have children, you made a
commitment to do everything in your power to be there for them.
Also, know that if you’re overweight,
you can’t compensate for it by helping at their school or buying them
things. Nothing can compensate for the
fact that your choices can leave them without a mother. What you may not understand is the reality
that you can die from being overweight.
Is any food really worth not seeing
your child walk on their graduation day or seeing them get married or holding
their first child? If you had cancer,
wouldn’t you fight for your life? You
would seek help and do whatever necessary to stay alive. Obesity is no different. It’s hurting you and you really do have a
choice…Obesity is 100 percent curable.
My mom did it and you
can too.
