Most irrelevant comment ever.

I think this study needs to go farther than to assume correlation and causation with BMI alone. I agree that there is discrimination but, I do not think it is the overweight factor itself. It could have to do with attractiveness or as the article suggested parents not seeing enough potential for investment(due to related factors).

My niece was over weight her entire childhood. But, she didn't know it. Why? No one said a word. She had a joyous, happy childhood and has a great self image.

The moment she hit puberty, the lbs melted off. She was a size 2.

Um, Chunky-Monkey, this was someone's college work at UNT.... They did it for a grade. Wtf are you talking about? People also do their research on things like the fitness levels of African toads and the ecosystem.... What does any of this have to do with politics?

Source: I'm a student at UNT.

Nudge, nudge, and a little more nudging.

Next will be each and every family will have to provide a "nourishing" menu each week and submitted to the Department of Health and Human Resources, otherwise a fine will be imposed when you file your Income Tax return.

Too bad we may not be able to grow "greens" in our own backyard garden.

Loved your comment, Ido. Just sayin'.

My input: I read that obese children 'typically' come from low income households. So how do they purchase a car and education. I guess I look at my own surroundings...I know so many people, many who have weight issues. I've seen no evidence that parents favor their 'skinny' kids to their 'chubby' kids. I really have not seen that. This kind of "research" tends to fall into the tabloid-friendly genre for me.

Hmmm...some faulty data...perhaps in reporting or perhaps in the research solutions. Consider:

They considered BMI of people who were considered overweight, who bought their own cars. This does not at all mean that the parents refused to purchase a car for them. There may well be other factors, such as lower income children who attain to college tend to have a higher BMI...why? Sitting in front of the gameboy all day? Maybe they had a car at home that Uncle Ray fixed up for them, and they left it there so they would have wheels when they went home, instead of driving 1000 miles and eating up four days travelling time during a one week vacation.

It may be that the writer of the article mis-stated the data. Or the conclusion is faulty.

Chunky, we know you hate Obama. But not everything is about Obama, Odiekay?

Levi has a point. Children who come from lower socio-economic families tend to be overweight because a healthy eating style is more expensive. Unhealthy foods are cheap foods. This would also attribute to why some families did not provide money to send their children to college or buy them vehicles. Some families just can't afford it. This study mentions nothing of the socio-economic status of their subjects. There are more likely other factors involved in why these parents didn't buy vehicles for their children or provide their education, other than weight. I agree that this research has some faulty points to it. What would have made this study more credible is if they had chosen their subjects from middle to upper class families. This would have ensured that the "bias" that they are trying to point out was not due to any other extenuating circumstances, and that it was the obesity alone that led to the discrimination.

When I was a kid, there was no spending all day in front of the TV, computer, video games.

Playing outside, riding bicycles, cutting the grass, raking leaves, delivering papers were just a few of the things that kept myself (along with everybody I knew) from being fat.

The only reason why kids are fat today is because of laziness from both themselves and their parents.

These studies were not needed before the invention of video games.

Longhair - I would have to disagree with part of what you're saying. My oldest, who is 9, is chunky and has been for the past several years. But my 6 year old has his clothes fall off him because he is so skinny. They are both very active. Both would rather be outside playing than inside the house.

My oldest in particular is very active in soccer and basketball and is one of the better players on his soccer team. That boy can run the soccer field for the entire game. Why is he chunky? Probably the fact that trying to get him to eat healthy things like vegetables is a chore and a half.

Ironically, we do have a Wii game system but it is rarely used. The kids hardly ever play it. They build train sets, play with legos, dig in their mud pit (much to my wife's dismay) or play on their swing set.

Unfortunately it's not as cut and dry as blaming it on video games. Although I do agree that too many parents allow that or the tv to be used as a babysitter. But I see that as a failure on the part of the parents for not encouraging creative play in their children.

And their are times I do miss the days of childhood.....we rode our bikes EVERYWHERE. That's one thing I wish my kids could do but times just aren't the same.

LPV...maybe they are "lower socio-economic and fat for the exact same reason. Laziness and feeling self entitled. I am so sick of hearing people blame the government or their parents or their school or their neighborhood. or any one of a 100 different reasons for their plight. How about this: The choices you make dictate the life you lead. Start making better choices. Choose not to hang out with thugs. Choose to do your homework and pay attention in class. Choose to engage in physical activity every single day. Choose to model your actions after solid role models in your community. Choose to aspire to greater things. Choose to eat healthy sensible meals that fuel your body to live the fullest life you can. Oprah Winfrey grew up in a ghetto, poor, and being molested by her uncle. In spite of all of these hardships, she chose to be a success. That was a very unreasonable assumption for a poor black girl raised in poverty and molested to make. The "experts" would have said she didn't have a chance. SHE on the other hand chose to believe in herself and her dreams. Take a look at her now. She did not become a product of her environment. She made better choices and held herself to a much higher standard in spite of obvious obstacles.

LPV123

I agree that this research has some faulty points to it. What would have made this study more credible is if they had chosen their subjects from middle to upper class families.

Middle class is a dying breed. There is nothing but the poor and the rich. So doing the study on the poor captures majority of Americans today.

had-enough-470242

You hit it -that is exactly what I think.

Soon there will be one thousand rich and millions of poor.

divepromichael- One's economic status isn't always directly correlated to ones ambition or drive. How about this: Ever hear of an economic depression? Hard working people have been loosing their jobs all over the country. People lost all of their money when the market crashed. Hard working people that were in the working middle class suddenly plummeted into poverty. These people did nothing wrong, and yet are suddenly unable to pay their mortgages or rent, their car payments, their loans, or their credit card bills. They weren't busy hanging out with thugs, they weren't doing drugs, and they made all the right choices, and they still got Eff'd Over.

For you to imply that that all fat people are poor and lazy is the equivalent of saying that all thin people are rich and driven. I'm sure Lindsey Lohan would love to hear that as she drives drunk and does line after line of Coke.

Healthy foods are far more expensive than unhealthy food. One pack of chicken costs approximately $8.00. One whole meal at McDonalds can cost under $5.00.

You are correct, people need to make the most of what is given to them, and they need to to take responsibility to strive to greater things in this world. But you have to take into account all the extenuating circumstances that exist in this world.

My husband is in journalism. He put himself through school. He worked hard every day of his life. Yesterday, he lost his job, along with 10 other hard working people. We now face a hard reality that we may not be able to make our car payments, that we may not be able to pay rent. We aren't obese, but I'm certainly not a skinny girl either. You, and those who think like you, would look at me, wearing hand-me-downs, and living in a duplex instead of a 3 bedroom home, and think "Well, there's another dumb fat lazy bitch". I am college educated woman with a good job in a Police Department. Do NOT assume that because a person is fat, that they are lazy, ignorant, or stupid. Do not assume that because a person is poor that they are lazy, drug addicted low lifes. You know what they say, to assume is to make an ASS out of U and ME.

Had-Enough= True. The middle class is a dying breed, but my point is that they needed to take subjects from the same socio-economic status that could afford to buy cars for their children.

Longhair, please consider this as well. Back in the 60s it took 46 hours per week of mid-range income to provide for a family of four. In the 90s, and true today also, it takes over 90 hours of income-producing labor to provide for a middle income family of four. This means both parents work outside the home, and at least one works overtime or both do. I remember even in the 70s when we had 3 young 'uns running around, and I got hurt and couldn't work. No insurance, or Unemployment Insurance, we got behind on our Shell credit card payment, which we got to put new tires on our VW van, which surely needed them. I remember the lady that called, and what she said. I told her my wife stayed home caring for our 3 little ones, and I got hurt and couldn't work for at least two weeks. She said, "Well, I'm a single mother and I work. What's wrong with your wife that she can't work?" The expectation even then, and surely moreso today, is that both husband and wife have careers. And little Johnny either goes to daycare, the YMCA, or is home before his parents get there.

So, laziness of the parents? Maybe they are, not understanding that even though you've just spent 9 hours listening to whiney customers, you still have a family to run. And if all they want to do is kick off their shoes, open up the Kentucky Fried Chicken and family size mashed potatoes, and let the kids eat in front of the tv, they don't have that luxury.

Chasing the American dream, and what a dream it is, huh.

When I was a kid, there was no spending all day in front of the TV, computer, video games.

Playing outside, riding bicycles, cutting the grass, raking leaves, delivering papers

Same for me, but parents are afraid to let their kids out of their sight these days, and rightly so. Not to mention that neighbors who used to look out for other people's kids would just as soon find an excuse to sue these days.

So true Levi. *Most* parents have the best intentions when starting a family. They have this idealized vision of the 2 story house, white picket fence, and 3.5 kids and a Golden Retriever. Reality is much harsher, and most do the best with what they have. It's not always perfect, and I'm sure one day I will be guilty of telling my little man to go watch a cartoon so that I can do the laundry, wash some dishes, and hopefully get a bath in. What's more, Longhair, we no longer live in a day and age when we can send our children out to play like we used to be able to do. It's a sad reality, but our kids can't hop on their bikes and peddle down to their friends house a few blocks down. Responsible parents will feel it necessary to follow them everywhere they go, given the amount of henious crimes that are committed against our children.

Case and point : I live in a town where a 6 year old boy was walking from his grandmothers house to his fathers house in the same community. Before this little boy could reach his detination, a neighbor ( a convicted pedophile) lured the young child into the home to play video games. The man, along with the mans father and mother, sodomized and tortured that child, and then dumped his body in the woods down the street.

My son will not leave my house unaccompanied. I will take him to the park, take him swimming, enroll him in a sport, do anything and everything I can to keep him active, but he will never go off by himself. And darn it, I'm only human, and I work full time and I have a home to maintain.

Oh, and if the middle class disappears, we are in BIG trouble. That's the problem in every third world country. No or a very minimal middle class. All the wealth is in the hands of a few. That is what gives rise to anarchy, rebellion, militancy, revolution, and so on.

It's so true. One of my college profs set out 10 chairs in the classroom on the left, and then 3 chairs on the right side. She selected 3 people, and told them to occupy all 10 chairs on the left, and told the rest of us to occupy the 3 chairs on the right. That = wealth distribution. It was a great little visual aid for us.

LPV, that is a terrible story! I know it's true ( I believe you ) and it seems from the way you describe it, they caught the perps. Neighborhoods have gotten more anonymous. Who knows their neighbors as more than just that old guy across the hall, or that Asian family down the street? Our neighborhood is pretty tight knit. A gay couple (male) lives next door on one side, and the other side are Chinese from Vietnaam (they eat cats, I kid you not). Across the street is Jerry and Mary, and on the corner is the convicted felon who races stock cars and plays in a blues band. I've met the Mexican families up and down the street (go ahead, drink the Tequila. You don't want to give offense and it won't kill you), and with the exception of one house, they are all responsible, hard working, good neighbors. I know it's not like that everywhere, though. And we all watch out for who's in our neighborhood, and make it our business to know each other.

Another bogus study. What were the questions? Do you still hate your child because he/she is overweight? How much more will you love your child when he/she loses weight? Since all the kids in college are skinny, don't you think your fat child will "stick out"? Why buy him/her a car? He/she's fat enough, he/she should walk, don't you think? Don't you think your kid's to ugly to go to college?

Yeah. This is right up there with the mammograms not being beneficial. I just wonder whose idea this is anyway? Another one of those ivory tower groups? I just read yesterday where it's been decided in another "study" that only 1/3 of women over 50 benefit from mammograms. (I'll bet it's the same group who said women under 50 shouldn't get mammograms or do self examination.) Let's see, how many of us are there? Let's say 60 million, just for a number. That means only 20 million of us will benefit. Gee, 20 million women, that's not too many. And what/who vets these numbers? Insurance companies? The government? They're in bed together if you hadn't noticed. Maybe I'm too fat and ugly for college and car, too. Kill me off now so I won't be burden on society.

I hate these "study" articles. They are so one-sided and set up that they are pathetic. Maybe this is someone's college thesis (more of the ivory tower). (BTW, penguins waddle because they have short legs, too--another study.) This article: Bogus science at its best.

Lastly, I didn't pay for either of my children's college education or car. Why? Because I was too poor! They worked and still work! Both are college educated, and both own nice cars. Both are responsible citizens and well-rounded individuals. Neither are exceptionally skinny or fat. And both are the most wonderful children on the face of the planet. Real, loving parents would never have even answered the questions to this "study." What an insult to family, and what a joke. No wonder this country is such a mess.

I know, the next studies might be that I hate my child because he/she's a Methodist, Catholic, blonde, redhead, politically independent, likes the color purple, won't eat peas, wants to be a social worker . . . .

Levi- It was very tragic. We have our fair share of crime in our area. Everywhere does. But something that heinous was a devastating blow to our community. Everyone mourned for that family, whether you knew them or not. It was a big deal. It's a great thing that you live in a community where you all look out for one another. In today's day and age, you are pretty much expected to keep your head down and mind your own business. It's a false sense of security, that if you keep your nose out of trouble, no trouble will come to you. It's just not true anymore.

Zapper, in some families, yes that is the case and I agree with this study. My husband's family is classic. Hubby is the middle child. He was my mother-in-law's largest baby and even when very young, he was quite chubby. Why, nobody knows as she never did anything different between his older (by one year) brother and him (younger bro was born 2 years later). Older bro was skinny, and my husband was chubby. Younger bro was also skinny.

From day one their father was very hard on my husband. Older and younger bros could do nothing wrong, but hubby was the one he yelled at, picked on, put down, and on and on. There was obvious favoritism going on and it spread throughout the extended family. Hubby sees himself as the outsider in his family.

I don't care if someone's child is a 'disappointment' - do not ever, EVER show favoritism to your children. You do far more harm than you can ever know.

Chunky Monkey- will you just shut the hell up?

You obviously know nothing about research, how it’s conducted, the institutions that support it, or how it is funded. Do you walk through life, grasping at straws, trying to find something to relate to the f*cking bailout? Because THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT. You idiots drive me crazy.

So BJ, perhaps the next "study" should be done as to why some parents are total jerks, abusive "role" models and rotten parents, for whatever reason, to their children. I'm the only girl of four children. The three boys were all played as the favorites of one sort or another, and as a girl, I was written off. (We can pick any kind of differentiation to do a study on, whether it be weight, height, gender, eye color, etc.) Oddly, we children grew up knowing that this behavior reinforced "how not to be a parent" and "what not to do." My brothers (and I) turned out to be fairly good parents, even with the rotten examples we had to work with. This kind of study puts the onus on the child, not on the parent, where it belongs.

I'm sorry your husband suffered at the hands of an ignoramus and his kin. But studies of this nature tend only to validate and accept this totally unacceptable behavior. Being an outsider with this bunch might not be such a bad thing. I would bet, that if you and your husband are parents, that you are wonderful and loving people to your children. Again, learned from the book of "What Not To Do."

If kids are fat, it's the parents' fault.

I also think this study is bogus. It's not so much that the parents won't pay for tuition, it's probably that the fat kid does not want to go to hide from society because he/she is so fat.

I feel for heavy people. Eat right and exercise. Eating right means eating ZERO processed foods. ZERO. Every chemical they put in the food to preserve it hurts your body.

Do not eat anything white except cauliflower because white means processed and chemicals (sugar and flour).

While I train with weights 3 days a week and am doing at least 8 hours of cardio training per week, walking is exercise. Park away from the entrance of the building and walk. Take the stairs instead of the elevator.

Being fat causes all kinds of medical problems - heart attacks, diabetes, etc.

So they have proved that nobody likes fat people, parents included.

"John! Get your fat ass out of the couch and come eat dinner!!"

Do parents discriminate their red hair kids ?

Oh no cry me a twinkie, fatty didn't get a free car. Do skinny attractive people get better insurance rates? We all have problems, even people with a high BMI (body mass index). This post brought to you by the people who design airline seats.

rollo-2410446

I love and eat lots of donuts but I am active therefore I am slim. Just because someone may eat junk food it does not necessarily mean they will be a porker.
It all comes down to getting your __— moving.

movinmovinmovin, see that hmmhmmm movin! Movinmovinmovin...my shoe!!!

Yeah...all this long distance running...there has to be some consumption of the bad stuff allowed, since I'll run it off tomorrow.

"Why yes", he smiled. "I'll have another piece of that marvelous chocolate cake!"

Levi777

Wow chocolate cake- am I invited??!!!!

Sure, you are! But I ate it all. 10 miles (at least) tomorrow morning.

okay next time!!!

I agree with you to an extent, however many childrens eating habits are learned from their parents. I've always struggled with my weight, and I take full responsibility for how my own eating habits affect me. But as a child, I was fed pizza, McDonalds, and Taco Bell more often than I was fed a home cooked meal. As a 7 year old, I would say "Mom, I want more ice cream cake", and I was given it, even though I already had eaten 2 pieces. Kids cannot be relied upon to make their own choices. That's the point of having parents. They have to set those restrictions and guidelines for their children, who are not yet capable of understanding the ramifications of their actions.

As an adult, it is my responsibility to make healthy eating choices. This is where I repeatedly fail. I love Frappacinos from Starbucks. While I was pregnant, I once devoured an entire ice cream cake (It was a small one, but still!). My weight is now my responsibility. But adopting new practices that were learned through your entire life is difficult. That is why parents MUST instill healthy eating habits in their children from the get go. It's easier to maintain those practices during your life than it is to adopt them later on.

So true, LPV

One thing I've learned, that I've adopted. In his book "Born to Run" by Chris McDougall, he mentions a woman who had cancer, and after the mastectomy she went back to school and became an MD, focusing on nutrition. She recommends having a salad for breakfast, for these reasons:

1. You are NOT eating greasy fried foods, or nothing, or sugar, or processed grains with additives.

2. You can eat as much as you want, but make sure you use no dressing, or oil and vinegar, or something low fat. Read the labels!

3. Salad has a lot of water in it and it rehydrates us after a night of sleeping. Ever notice you always pee yellow in the morning?

4. You can vary it and make it how you want it.

5. The closer we get to real food...the food source...the less we need to satisfy us, and we stay satisified longer. With processed foods, it takes more to satisfy, and we are hungry sooner.

I've tried it, and I really like it. I make mine out of romain lettuce, fresh spinach, red or black seedless grapes, carrots, slivered almonds, and fresh grated parmesan cheese (the harder cheeses have more protein). Like bean sprouts? Throw them in! Raisins? Dried or fresh berries? I am a distance runner, averaging 15 miles on my runs, (some more, some less) and I've found that having a salad for breakfast keeps me light and gives me lots of energy.

Also, I know a lady from work that lost 45 pounds in 6 months by counting calories, and she never excercised.

I mentioned the above for thoese who wish to make a change. Take it or leave it, but even if you don't lose the weight, I guarantee you'll feel better.

And remember, God loves you just as you are.

I love salads! I've just never thought of having one for breakfast! lol. Since my son was born, I've started to learn how to cook healthy home cooked meals. Granted, he's not old enough to eat them yet, but it's never too early to start changing your lifestyle. I haven't relied on my ever faithful Easy Mac even once since I gave birth. I still eat foods that aren't considered the healthiest. My side dishes usually consist of roasted potatoes with onions and peppers, pasta with a spinach alfreado sauce, frozen corn etc. But everything in moderation! I'm hoping to see some positive results soon :)

I find when I eat the heavier food at breakfast I have more energy during the day and eat considerably less thereafter.
As long as you balance what you eat and don't eat after 6 pm you will feel very
well.
Keeping smiling it is also healthy.
Good health to all.

Marsha, I have no choice but to eat after 6PM. I work overnights :) But I know what you're getting any. I think the "rule of thumb" is that you shouldn't eat past 3 hours before your bedtime.

Sometimes it's simply the genetic makeup of the child. My mother in law didn't do anything different with her three sons, but my husband (middle child) was heavier from babyhood onward. He didn't eat any more than his brothers and was just as active.

Parent's cannot be blamed for everything - however they can make sure they don't treat their children differently just because of how they look.

Weird, it was the exact opposite in my experience. My two sisters and I are all slim, and we all bought our own cars, although my father graciously helped us obtain loans. I also took out loans to cover most of my undergraduate and postgraduate tuition expenses (I believe then pitched in a couple thousand in my first two years). When I was in college, I got a full time job to pay for my car, my apartment, and my food. I had no help.

My boyfriend, however, has always been overweight even though he was very athletic in school, swimming competitively and playing many intramural sports. His parents bought him a car, paid most of his school tuition, and even paid for his off campus apartment and food in college, so that he would not have to work. Two other male friends of mine had the same experience, while my best female friend paid her own way as I did.

I think there is more of a gender difference than body mass. Mom's want to make sure their little princes have everything they need, while at the same time ensuring that their daughters know how to make their own way. I am glad that I had the experiences I did, I think I am more mature and more in tune with "the real world" than my friends whose parents took care of them in college. My kids (boys or girls, fat or thin) will be taking on their own responsibilities once they are adults.

Not eating 3 hours before your bedtime isn't always true when it comes to losing/maintaining weight. I've maintained a healthy weight (183 pounds with 13% bodyfat down from 295 pounds with 40% bodyfat) and I've consistently eaten a cup of cottage cheese with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter right before I go to bed. It's all about level of physical activity and total caloric intake.

The cottage cheese helps relax you for a better sleep. As long as the rest of the day you eat properly you will be fine.
Good health to you.

Maybe the parents need to ask if they helped their kids get fat. I wouldn't know what is to be fat but I know what it's like to be teased. These parents don't need to be one more source of rejection.

Bingo! Some parents are either too overprotective or just plain lazy to let their kids go outside and play... if you are affraid that 'Chester, Chester - Child Molester' will snatch them up, then go outside with them! Then you have the parents who are either too lazy or too punkish to put their foot down about what their children consume. All that "He cries if I don't give him 5 deep fried twinkies with cheese and a glass of kool-aid syrup" is just sick. Then these people have the nerve to want to punish the child who's weight is a reflection of their crappy parenting? Shoot, if they do end up with any thin children, it's probably because they're buzzing around on a sugar-high; you know the ones that can't sit down in a class room? How about the next time you dismiss any of your children for being 'fat and lazy', why don't you think back to all the times you were too lazy to feed your kids something that wasn't from a drive-thru?

The best revenge is living well! Good for you for not letting that rejection hold you back! It sounds like you're at a good place in your life and that you're better off without those people as harsh as that may sound.

There's nothing wrong with working for $10, but if your sis could do better and your dad knows it, hopefully he will eventually reconsider his choices as he keeps subsidizing your sister. But don't hold your breath.

Seek counseling. Being bitter/angry decades later and writing a narcissistic novel on a public forum talking about how you are so much better than your sister based solely upon income makes you even worse than the people in the article that you reference. If you are on a comments section ranting about the competition that you have created and retain with your sister as an adult (which strays deeply from the article's intent), then it is surely time to seek mental help.

Keep telling yourself that your "dad's plan backfired" when you come across as a miserable and spiteful human being to the entire world. It kind of makes it hard to root for someone with such vitriol later in life...

I am pretty well the opposite, the skinny one, oldest, and it was assumed I could handle buying things on my own. My sister is younger, overweight, and even now at the age of 40 still is supported by my parents. Unlike you, I am grateful that they had enough confidence in me to know I could do it on my own - and this has built my self esteem. My sister has gotten the message for years that she is incapable, that she is "fat" and therefore they will help her out. She is bitter, alone, and constantly trying to get more out of them. I feel sorry for her and it's frustrating to see my parents sending her this message for years, that being fat makes her less of a person. If they had held her to the same standards, she would have been forced to become a more capable person - that I know she is inside. Just my thoughts and a different take on this.

Good for you young lady!!!! My wife and I have four beautiful daughters. The oldest being 28 and the youngest being 13. The youngest has for the last 4 years struggled with her weight. She is a straight A student, dancer, swimmer and this year become a volleyball player at her school. She is extremely out going and very personable. We work very hard to see that she eats healthy and takes care of herself. We have taught her that for others to like her and believe in her she first has to like and believe in herself.....and she does. Like the other three, she is our world...my wife and I can't see it any other way. May God bless you and your family. May God also show your father the light.

Sam, do not listen to Michael. You don't sound angry and bitter to me at all. I just opened the news and chanced on this article. I also had a sister who was overindulged and spoiled, and to this day she still is, at 62 years old !

When Michael goes through something like this or lives in a situation like this, then maybe he can comment, but until then he is no professional and he needs to keep his advise to himself.

We are what they call survivors, and we are more free in spirit and more sound in mind than our chained siblings.

YOU GO GIRL !!

(c;

P.S. thxs for being honest and talking about it.

This is really bizarre. I was never overweight, but my sister was very skinny, so compared to her... My family did make jokes about my weight and I always thought I was chubby when younger, but when I look at pictures I was small if anything. My mom says now she thought I was too thin! Both my sister and brother got several new cars (I'm also the middle child), but I never did. I also got more grief about paying for college (I was almost forced to go to school where I had a free ride scholarship-it was essentially my parents telling me they couldn't pay for college after we had looked at schools and I was given the impression I could go to any of the ones on my short list, and they knew my first choice was not that school.) I'm grateful that they did pay in the end. Basically, it seemed like my sister and brother always got their turn but I never did.

I'm not bitter now because I've found what it means to forgive, and I've actually had a lot more than that to forgive. "To forgive is to set a prisoner free only to discover that the prisoner was you." I don't know to whom to credit that quote.

My hat's off to you, congratulatios. You have a great deal to be admired for, mainly because you didn't let the rejection slow you down. Other people may experience something similar to what you did, and forget it, they'll kill themselves. Glad to see you had faith in yourself.

Sam, thank you for sharing. I am not sure why this Michael person is so angry and bitter. perhaps he should receive counseling.... >.> lol

I'm glad you've achieved so much and I do relate to you.

@Micheal, you need to get off the pedestal you put yourself on before you fall on you a**.

Sam, you have every right to brag anywhere you want, in any way you want. You have earned the right! You should be proud of yourself! Even if you may harbor feelings of resentment twords your father you have every right. I recently went through that too, not the whole overweight thing, but I paid for my own seven thousand dollar wedding with no help from my mother, but my mother spend thousands helping out a younger sister. I have kids, she doesnt, who could have used the help more? But anyway, what he did was wrong, and he deserves whatever label you give him. Everytime you think of his or her lazy a** you should smile, both of them deserve each other.

Your parents did you a favor. You are self-supporting, independent and confident. Sister is not. I am very heavy. It was interesting growing up because I was always picked on and mocked by my mother and 2 sisters. Funniest thing, they're heavy now, too, and my mother is (and was) a controlling, fat-phobic.

Sam , The fact that your dad didn't buy you a car or pay for your schooling might be the best thing that anyone has ever done for you. You yourself said you don't think you would have developed your drive to comtete in the world if you had been given the things you desired.Could it be that he knew ? just asking

Our family had a similar scenario. I had a curvy sister, a thin sister, and I was overweight. Our dad was an attorney. He refused to send my curvy sister to college but he gave her a job as a secretary at his firm, and he gave her an old used car. He sent my skinny sister to college with all expenses paid, bought her a newer car, and then she transferred schools which added an extra year, and during her senior year he bought her a new car. I was the youngest, and when I turned 16 he did not give me a car. I graduated at 17 with the same GPA as my skinny sister, and he didn't send me to college - he wouldn't even pay for community college. I worked in entry level jobs and rented a room, and I attended community college part time.

He died in 1996, and I haven't visited his grave since 1997. My sisters keep talking about him, and I'm like, "Whatever." They're offended by that, but I just tell them that I had a different dad than they did.

Could it also be that your dad saw that you have what it takes to make it and did not want to mess with it, and they saw in your sister that she needed their help. I am sure you would not want to trade places with your sister as it is now.

You rock girl!!!

Sounds to me like daddy has his priorities all screwed up, and uses faulty criteria to judge a person's worthiness of his love. So many attorneys focus heavily on appearance, and he may be carrying that over to his daughters.

Sam.

You tell a great story. I find this article shocking that parents would be so sadistic. Those are the people that need counselling but seldom if ever get it. Parents need to help their children, not ridicule them.

So I personally agree with Michael, it sounds like you have alot of built up anger and are a little bitter, when it comes to how you were treated as apposed to how you sister was treated.. I mean if you think about it you let such a silly little thing affect the relationship with you and father and more than likely your sister, and is it really worth it? I personally don't think it is but thats just me....

Maggie, I hate to say it but you and Sam both seem to suffer from what psychologist term as learned helplessness. I bet you've both been overweight most of your life and because of all the ridicule from others, as well as your own shame you feel hopeless and now you've both become victims. Being overweight has become your identity. It's us ( overweight people ) against the big cruel world! In fact you even have a fan club of enablers cheering you on in this forum. I think you've learned to associate a lot of pleasure to being the victim. I also think you associate a lot of pain to doing what is necessary to take off the weight and make yourself healthier. It's much easier to blame your mother, father, and sister than it is to face the reality that, in spite of your supposed financial success, you are still not happy with who you are. Life is a search for balance. Although you may applaud yourself for you education and salary, clearly you still resent your parents, your sibling, and most of all you weight. If your parents and your sibling is the problem, have them go get help. However, you might want to consider that you are your problem and help yourself.

Good for you. Your father did you a disservice, but you made a life for yourself anyway. Some folks do not get the pain a person can feel when a parent stops supporting you..not just financially for college, but emotionally as well.

Just like you have made your own life, your sister has made hers, by not taking advantage of opportunies you were denied. Forgive her, you came out ahead.

As far as your father, now he is most likely bragging to his friends how successful you are...his behavior doesn't even deserve comment.

Continue to love yourself, and the life you created, and don't look back...and have those babies with your husband.

I see that so many went through hell as youngsters. I was also the middle child was battered & abused & told I was fat (the photos show quite the opposite) but I am the one that turned out strong and still full of happiness. My advice is don't let the abusers win show them that you are worth more then them by not going down to their sad level.

Peace and happiness to all.

Too bad all that money can't buy your way thin.

Someone already said it, but it bears saying twice. The best revenge is living a good life. Those that ridiculed children for being fat, or abused them for whatever, it was all about power, and it's enough for us to know that they didn't win!

By the way, kudos to everyone on here. Cool conversations!

You don't think that maybe it's because your dad thought you had what it takes to make your own way? I'm not saying that is what happened, I am just asking. You just seem like someone who is determined and has the ability to flourish on your own is why I ask.

Too bad all that money can't buy your way thin.

Wow, so her successful job, marriage, etcetera...are negated because she (probably) isn't thin? Really? What messed-up priorities you seem to have.

Sam, good for you! Parents showing favoritism when concerning their childrens' future, especially for such shallow reasons, is awful. It's a different story if we were talking about one child who makes poor decisions vs. one child who makes good ones... that's not favoritism, that's just a choice to not reward bad behavior. Clearly, that is not the case with your family. However, don't allow this to make you bitter... you've already won, so find peace in that you've made it completely on your own, and find a way to make things right with your father. Life is too short to hold on to that.

i just wanted to tell you i loved your commentary, and am very happy to hear things worked out so well for you. my wife is overweight, and i am not, and i love her dearly. it makes me pissed to think that people may think differently about her (and even us as a couple) just because of something as trivial as her weight. her family story is slightly different than yours....all her siblings are heavy, and she is by far the most successful! again, good for you, and best of luck with everything, and maybe your "hard-assed" father will come around and you can fire up your relationship with him/ them again!

Or . . . maybe that was your father's plan all along.

Every intelligent male knows that skinny, pretty girls have it easier (I'm sure you know this too). Men are always willing to pay more, and take care of the skinny, pretty girls. So maybe he realized that he needed to teach you to be independent and self-sufficient, and BAM . . . look at you now.

You should probably call and thank your dad.

hehe, same situation and pretty much same outcome and here i thought it was because i was the oldest...wonderful how we get written off and we are the one's that are actually living to our fullest potential.

Get professional help all of you. My brother was the fat one I was the skinny one. My parents layed the world at his feet as well as everything they ever owned in the will, homes, money, etc.

Good for HIM. Live well is right. I don't regret a day.

That's bull@!$%#....

thin, your an idiot. some people just have a slower metabolism then others. i am a middle child. both my siblings eat twice as much as i do yet they maintain a thin figure whereas i am overweight.

Really ChiaraOmizawa? Really? That's the excuse you've chosen to accept, that you have a slow metabolism and both your siblings have fast ones? The majority of your metabolism is controlled by your activity level. You probably actually believe that some people can just sit around on the couch eating potato chips and their metabolism is racing along at such blazing speed that they are burning the calories up as quick as they can eat them. That is pure bull@!$%#! People who are fit and healthy are that way because they eat a sensible diet made up of smart food choices and moderation. They also engage in physical activity to condition not only their cardiovascular systems but there muskoskeletal system. Instead of resenting your siblings, why don't you try to moderate the amount of food you put into your mouth and commit yourself to engaging in 40 to 60 minutes of activity most, if not all days of the week. Do that and you'll be surprised at just how fast your metabolism actually is.

thin,They can't afford to lend them money for tuition or a car after spending all their money overfeeding them for 18 years.

How disgraceful is the above sentence and such a load of manure.

divepro- I'm sorry but I don't think you are at all qualified to make any of those assertions. What are your credentials? I'm sitting next to a girl who wears a size zero, who never exercises, and who could eat teenaged football players under the table. For some reason, you are a big fan of lumping all people into one small category. "She's fat, so she must be lazy and an overeater. The other girl is thin, so she must exercise and eat healthy foods".

Ever met a woman with hypothyroidism?

Hypothyroidism is a condition in which the body lacks sufficient thyroid hormone. Since the main purpose of thyroid hormone is to "run the body's metabolism," it is understandable that people with this condition will have symptoms associated with a slow metabolism. The estimates vary, but approximately 10 million Americans have this common medical condition. In fact, as many as 10% of women may have some degree of thyroid hormone deficiency. One of the main symtoms is Weight gain or increased difficulty losing weight. http://www.endocrineweb.com/conditions/thyroid/hypothyroidism-too-little-thyroid-hormone

Conversly, have you ever met a girl with annorexia or bulemia? I assure you, any girl who suffers from this eating disorder is not thin because she takes excellent care of her body and engages in healthy eating habits and a healthy life style.

You are completely rude and disrespectful. I would attempt to give your statements the smallest credibility if you could try to engage in respectful dialog.

There is truth to the equation: Proper diet + even moderate excercise = healthy BMI. This does not at all take into account medical conditions, nor should it. But how many overweight people have medical conditions that are the cause of their obesity? Some of it can be linked to genetics. I know middle aged women who have had childen who eat like a horse and get drunk 4 nights out of the week, and never seem to gain weight. I also know people who do the dos, and don't do the don'ts, and just cannot get thin. But they are healthy.

What actually concerns me even more is the fictitious standard put forth by the modeling and fashion industries. That is flat out cruel.

What's really disgraceful is the fact that Obesity is a disease and just like when I get an infection I take something for it, and you should go on the treadmill to fix your disease. Being fat is a choice no matter how you want to say well there is this and that that causes it. You still m!ake the choice to be fat and not do anything about it. I wouldn't be surprised if they ran a survey and found out fat people are meaner to skinny people. Cuz you hate your life it gets pushed on everyone else. The way you are right now is by your choice and your choice alone. It has nothing to do with mommy and daddy, thyroids, etc. YOU're choice

thin,They can't afford to lend them money for tuition or a car after spending all their money overfeeding them for 18 years.

How disgraceful is the above sentence and such a load of manure.

wow. damoss, one thing you will learn in life is to never say never. Wisdom is called for, and perhaps a little kindness. If you don't have these, then know that life has a way of teaching these things to us, and it's sometimes not very pleasant.

The way you are right now is by your choice and your choice alone. It has nothing to do with mommy and daddy, thyroids, etc. YOU're choice

Damoss, that's.. that's really not true. In many cases, it can be next to impossible to slim down because of your genetics. My best friend is big-boned and has a very slow metabolism. She eats healthy foods and exercises every day, but because of her genetic material, she will always be considered "heavyset" - if you prefer that term to "overweight." Even if she were to spend all of her waking hours exercising - impossible because of school and work, where attempting to do so would get her in trouble - and managed to work off the calories from everything she'd eaten, her bone structure would still make her appear to be fat. That's not something she can help.

As much as I hate to say it, because it comes off as extremely "skinny-girl bitchy," even with all her work, I will always be skinnier than her - until my superfast metabolism wears out and everything I've eaten catches up to me. I'm not saying this to be mean, I'm saying this because it's true. Our bodies are shaped very differently because of the genetic material our parents provided us, and it's not fair to say her being overweight is her fault, nor is it fair to say me being thin means I'm doing something right. If her metabolism was faster, she'd be much more skinny - and if mine were slower, I'd be the one you were bashing for being a "lazy fatass who can't get her butt off the couch."

Please equip yourself with a basic understanding of how weight is related to genetics before attempting to pin the blame on someone for the way they look. They CAN'T always help it.

...and at the risk of sounding like a grammar Nazi, it's "your," not "you're."

Although maybe everyone's definition of "fat" is different. A lot of people consider me fat (myself included) though I only need to loose 20 lbs or so (AND I just had a baby). Are we talking chubby people, or morbidly obese? My father is morbidly obese, and needs to loose 80-100 lbs.

I AGREE! This is absurd! I always needed to lose 10/15lbs and my mom made me buy my own car and (gasp) pay for my own school...and auto insurance and everything..clothes...you name it. She made me get a job when I was 16. The only thing she helped me with was FREE RENT until a year after high school graduation..then she started charging. She called it character building. She was teaching me to be independent. It wasn't because I needed to lose a few lbs. And if I was even heavier...well, heck, I was already paying for everything! :) The obese people I know, their parents are obese, as well! They would never in a million years discriminate against their own child for being FAT! It they refused to help them, they either couldn't or wanted to teach them independence!

You both are right on, it has nothing to do with weight, and everything to do with either lazy parenting, or a personal charachter flaw. Anyone who sets one kid up over the other is a POS anyway.

lol It was just a research project at a university. It's not their fault MSNBC printed this article. Just keep in mind that's how most articles start out.

I agree. What a crock of an article even if it was a university research project. Still, the methodology of this project was very flawed.

Older skinny child could have gotten their education paid for, but then the economy crashed, younger obese child got left out because the parents needed the money so they wouldn't lose their house. How does favoritism fall on the parents then? How could that not explain anything? Since they only talked to 379 overweight kids, they only got their side of the story. What about the thin siblings or the parents? Maybe they weren't fully aware of their parent's finances. Maybe the participants weren't being truthful either.

I don't deny parents can play favorites, but IMO this article/study is just assuming (we all know what that means) something that may or may not be Perhaps the article should be titled "Overweight kids face bias from own moms/dads because bias study said so".

ignorance is bliss.

How much taxpayer money is wasted so "mortgageman" can get tax write-offs because he is a first time homebuyer? Or because he falls under the Bush Tax Cuts?

Who said it was a government study? If it was a study paid for by the college well...aren't colleges supposed to do research?

Duh, most colleges get Federal money... And yes, this article and the research behind it is a waste of anyones money.

geeze. You can't tell someone what to do a research paper on. And noo, they didn't use federal money on this. They just took a survey around campus... Haven't you ever been to college?? You take a concept you've learned in class and try to apply it to something basic so you can learn how it works under the supervision of a professor. (who is paid by tuition which for me was $5000 this semester at UNT. There are 36K students at UNT) In this case they were probably trying to get a grasp on the statistics involved. I'm a biology student who is studying to work with animals. Are you going to tell me that my research topic this semester is a waste of your tax payer dollars? It's on the effects of a loss of genetic diversity caused by bottlenecking and the resultant inbreeding in tigers. I personally think this is very important because it points to an important reason why they are endangered. I, too, could try to get it published if I felt like it but it costs no one anything except for my time to do the research and I guess a waste of your time reading it if you have no background in biology. The spin that this is the end all truth was paced on it by the MSNBC reporter. Not the students.

So Megapril, you need to take a chill pill. Let students be students and learn. Everything is a chance to learn something and there is no wrong way to learn. If there is a problem with their findings the scientists in the scientific journal Obesity will let them know. That's where they published their findings, not here, and that is where they will get feedback on how to improve their skills. It's a learning process all scientists must go through.

Relax. The comments here are not meant to be an indictment on research methodology at college universities; it is, instead, a criticism of journalism and what passes for health news. The assumption that obese children experience some bias, even from their own parents is most likely valid, in my *opinion*. It's just that this study does nothing scientifically rigorous to back up that assumption. Moreover, it seems that the quality of the study itself is sophomoric at best.

I don't know where the money for the general fund at UNT comes from, but if this school is anything like Penn State (where I am faculty), then about 80% of it comes from the state (and not the federal government). Student tuition dollars are typically a small part of the overall general fund of any university. But you're right on the fact that the funding source for the study is not the point at all.

It's sad, but not really frustrating. People like that can't compete with people who have their lives, bodies, and money under control - who hold men accountable for raising their children, and build stable lives, profiting from them and reaping what they sow. The folks you are seeing are the ones that are digging our ditches and doing our yard work. It's just the way things work. Doesn't frustrate me.

U of M --

Pretty harsh, but I agree with you. I see it all the time too, and it's disgusting. I consider it a form of child abuse. I've even seen these pigs put Coke in a baby bottle for their toddler.

Yet, with no effort at all, my kids are thinner than any other kids in their class. I, on the other hand, have more than a bit of weight to lose (not 20 lbs- more like 80-90+). My kids are active, eat normally (a scattering of fast food now and then but not weekly!), and get exercise fairly regularly but not overly much. They eat the same things I do; some processed, some "junk"...what is it that makes them so much different than me? NO ONE would call them "overweight" in the slightest. Period. So, if intake is everything, activity is everything, then why is there so much difference?

Could it be, oh, could it possibly be...gasp....genetic? Consider that my husband is 6'4 and still can wear shirts and almost pants that he wore in junior high school (in his 40's now!!!)....

So, geniuses, figure out what the difference is here for me, ok? (I take a pretty high dose of synthetic thyroid medicine every day, I have polysystic ovarian disease, a severe nerve entrapment/scar tissue issue that doesn't have a named diagnoses in my arms that makes walking difficult due to severe swelling that accompanies exercise in more than recreational form- even after the multiple surgeries on both arms to correct, and I was
adopted so I have little to no knowledge of what else might be going on).

By your logic, both my kids should be walking bowls of jell-o- but NO ONE says that about them. NO one; they are far from that and show no signs of changing at 13 and 10 years of age.

I forbid nothing in diet, yet gently encourage healthy eating whenever possible: we all eat fruits, veggies, lean meats, good casseroles; they like a variety of things and eat all in appropriate amounts.

Even if they did develop some form of overweight or obesity, nothing would change in the way that I love them or care for them. I was simply raised knowing that major things such as cars and other expensive items were my job to pay for. My brother and I the same way; we were expected to pay our way in the world and if they choose to help if we get in an emergency then they might- though they are never asked to help for sure!

Treating a child to a car, home, or other luxury item is not a good idea for a parent to do. It weakens their self-reliance to a dangerous degree. However, I think parents do have a bit of a moral obligation to provide as much of an education as they can help with...

According to the very article you're commenting on, they did indeed take family income into account.

Thank you! I was going to post this very same thing. We also need to add ethnicity into the picture, as many ethnicities carry a higher genetic likelihood of obesity. Are we talking about low income minorities here? I don't think the report really even mentioned that but my guess would be yes we are. Great way to stack the deck guys!

I totally agree with you. Being healthy in this day and age is expensive. The cheapest foods to buy are bread, potatoes, etc which are nothing but filler and starch. Health, in general, is lower amongst lower income families since they can't afford the dentist regularly or putting their kids in fitness programs that others can enjoy. Overweight children don't just come that way... parents start it with them and then berate them on how heavy they are. I have great resentment for parents who feed their kids and then continually undermine their self esteem and wonder why their children are fat teens and adults. How is that to make them think better of themselves?

Can we also talk about why schools INSIST on serving French Fries with every dang meal they serve every day of the week. Parents do indeed fail their children when they allow them to eat whatever foods they want, at whatever portions they want. I agree with what all of you have said. Healthy foods are incredibly expensive, where as bad foods are cheap. When I was in college, I worked at a gas station and learned that sodas were not taxed, but Milk and Water was. Hello? However, that being the case, I have learned how to provide healthy meals at a low budget. It is possible. You just have to put a little extra effort into it. Isn't the health, happiness and well being of our children worth it? Mine sure is.

"Being healthy in this day and age is expensive." Maureen, with all due respect, that is one of the stupidest excuses I've ever heard. Most of the overweight people are so because they are too lazy to get their fat asses off the couch to exercise. As far as eating healthy, that is not expensive either. Lazy fat asses are not going to go to the store to buy healthy food, it's much easier to waddle down the corner to the McDonalds. Fat people and their enablers always find ways to justify obesity.

This is the way of research at Universities they are usually flawed because they
take a small section in their university and not a cross section from the majority
of universities. This amazes me because with all the technology at hand it is easy to cut a bigger slice of the world and come out with more appropriate statistics.

This research study is about as revealing as the one done last year that proved attractive people are more likely to be hired, and paid more, than less attractive people. What next, a study to determine if water is wet?

john: good post and I agree. Where is the "parent's responsibility?" If the story is true (how these so-called 'studies' are even compiled, I have no idea?) but, the BLAME falls directly on the parents! If your child is overweight, here's an idea... STOP feeding them as much!

These people who have this "nanny state mentality" want to blame the FDA or McDonalds or whatever make me sick. If your kid is overweight... God forbid, don't try to educate themselves by reading labels? Just keep pulling in to the Fast Food joints and keep 'Super Sizing everything!

Suddenly the elementary school kids look like Michael Moore, Roseanne Barr or Aretha Franklin and the parents say, "I don't know what happened?"

Maybe it's a mystery to these Brain dead parents, but not to anyone else. We see "these brilliant parents shopping at the super markets all the time!" Parking in "handicapped spots; sitting in their electric carts; filling them up with FAT LOADED JUNK; so much that the bags of Cheetos and Chocolate and Potato chips and Ice Cream are all falling on the floor. THIS is what they teach their children.

Many overweight adults were never FAT until well after they left H.S. or even until they were in their 30's. Being overweight as an adult is one thing, but LITERALLY TEACHING your own children is another thing.

I see "pre-school children" that are obese all the time? It makes your head spin? When children are that FAT when they are so young, these kids are destined to DIE at a very, very early age. Most may not survive their 30's and that is sad.

Parents like that should have their children removed from the home because "literally teaching their children how to die young is definitely ABUSE!" Then, all of these FAT enabling parents should be STERILIZED and committed to some institution... have their stomachs STAPLED... and have their JAWS wired shut.

What ever happened to personal responsibility?

Blaming others? Blaming Food manufacturers? Blaming McDonalds? Blame society? Yeah, nice try, but I refuse to give any one "an inch" in that discussion.

First and foremost, the #1 problem is ALWAYS the parents! Next? Well, there are many other factors to be considered "after!" FAT foods? Way too many FAT foods? Eating all day, 24 x 7? Fat friends? FAT family? Are we surrounded by "enablers?" Those people that do these "studies" that want to blame everybody and everything... but the "root cause?"

Bottom line: BAD, really BAD and really ignorant parents!

EVERYTHING else must fall in line AFTER!

Man you need to put your ingonorance in writting, good for you, and your brothers with sheets...

Um, I think you mean 'ignorance' and 'writing'.

Just curious... does anyone know what the word "in gon or ance is?"

What about the word "writ ting?"

I'm asking because I looked them up, but they actually "don't seem to exist anywhere?"

Well, unless perhaps they are from some "foreign language?"

However, if those words were supposed to infer "ignorance" and "writing"... the question is, "Why would any person imply that someone else is ignorant or has difficulty writing, when the person making the implication actually doesn't know how to spell, use a dictionary or a spell checker them self?

Just curious?

peace:)

Ingonorance.

You just made my day.

Congratulations, now gtfo and stfu, thanks.

I agree. I also think we need to hold our FDA and farmers to a higher level of responsibility regarding food quality. Between hormones in meat and dairy products to GMO crops to high fructose corn syrup in practically every food, everything we eat is crap unless it's grown organically and homemade. I refuse to believe that all this tampering with our food supply isn't connected to childhood obesity. I wasn't particularly active as a kid, neither was my brother. Neither of us were obese as kids, and I chalk it up to no soda in the house and my mother being able to buy normal food at the grocery store.

You are right, Michelle. But people don't have to eat that stuff. Everyone complains about the price of organic food, but I've compared my grocery bill with various friends who buy trash convenience foods and lots of meat, and I actually spend less.

If it's not organic, it doesn't go in my shopping cart. I eat mostly whole foods, mostly raw, and vegan except for cheese. Although I don't get enough exercise and am addicted to dark chocolate, I never have to watch my weight.

If people would just fill most of their plate with whole foods -- carrots, celery, apples, walnuts, etc. -- they would be a lot healthier and thinner. Many people think it sounds like deprivation, but after you eat that way for a month, trash food tastes horrible. I get a little sick just watching people gorge on high-fat processed junk.

Also, I think a lot of emotional and psychological problems are due to the way Americans eat.

No Michelle we do not need to hold the FDA and farmers to a higher standard regarding food quality. At least not in regards to how much of it PARENTS allow their kids to shovel into their mouths. We need to hold parents to a higher standard in that regard. Stop turning to the government to help you. Help yourself! If your kid is getting fat, stop feeding him crap by the shovel full. If he's weak, get off of your duff and go to the park with him and exercise. Everyone want the government (FDA) to step in and fix the problem. Let's fix it ourselves. Lets take responsibility for what we have done, are doing, and will do in the future.

I don't think demanding that government agencies act in the best interest of citizens over corporations is "turning to the government" for help.

After all, taxpayers support the FDA with the expectation that it will protect our food supply. Instead, like all of our government, it climbs in bed with the money. And yes, we do have the right to expect service from the agencies we support with our tax dollar.

If Europeans can demand clean food, why can't we? I don't know why Americans would rather live like dogs and crow about Capitalism than have a decent quality of life and scream that it's Socialism simply because the fat-cat government agencies have to do their job.

I was thinking along those lines. There is a correlation between poverty and obesity (why I'll never understand, you'd think it would be the other way around), so maybe it wasn't unwillingness so much as being UNABLE to offer any help. But the thing is, parents don't OWE their kids a car, nor are they obligated to help pay for college. By then the child is 18 and legally an adult. They can decide what they want to pursue as far as education and career, so they can also help pay for it. My hubby and I are doing what we can for our 19-year-old, who is a little overweight, but so is my hubby. It's really not much; cell phone, car insurance, and some help with books & fees. She wants to live on campus, so she's using student loans for that. She gets to pay those back, too.

Mine didn't either. Actually I think my situation is reversed. I'm actually the SMALLEST in my family (I'm also the oldest of 5 kids), with one sister and both parents overweight. My parents paid one of my brother's down payment for his house. One sister got veneers done and later my dad gave her his new car. My other sister, for her 22nd birthday, received a 2011 car, with the explaination that her old car was "unsafe". While that may be true, why a 2011? Why not a relatively new used car? Myself, however, recieved none of these. For my college graduation (the only sibling to be enrolled at a State University and to reciever her Bachelor's) I got a $700 desktop computer. It was the most expensive gift I have ever received from them, and I'm completely fine with that, but while commuting 40 miles a day between working full time to maintain my own apartment, I was also going to school fulltime (still paying off student loans). I used public transportation. I couldn't even afford a beater, I was so broke. I went 3 years without once turning on my heater so I could pay my power bills, and at a few points, ate a can of corn and dry stuffing mix for my meals. Who helped me when I was eating like this? No one. I enlisted in the military (a fine family tradition, which pleased my dad I thought), I worked my *** off, saved up my money, and bought a (used) 2009 car. I'm not sure whether to be angry with my parents for favoring the others over me (I do feel slighted), or angry at my siblings for taking advantage of my parents. I still feel really conflicted right now. At least I had fun at the dealership, learning how to haggle, and to pick out the car I wanted. That's a score for me. Sorry for my rant.

I completely feel your pain.. I am the youngest of 3 in my family.. I have supported my self since i was 15. I have only asked my parents for help like 3 times in the 17 yrs I have been on my own. and even then I didnt get it. while my oldest sister who makes twice as much as i do.. gets our parents and grandmother to pay her rent, buy her a car, pay her cell phone,electric bill.. you name it.. mean while I have no car, every couple months I have to decide if i want internet or a cell phone, and only pay one then have to wait til my next paycheck to pay the other one..Not to mention I was the oly one to graduate with my class and get my diploma. .. I try not to let it bother me, but sometimes it does get to me. I keep telling my self.... "I may not have much...but what I have is mine".. I am sorry to hear that you have had to deal with the similar situation.. there is nothing any one can really say that make the sitaution better

PLEASEEEEEEEE John. I have, on multiple occasions, had to suffer the indignity of standing behind someone in a grocery line while they use their food stamps to pay for a basket full of Ding Dongs, sodas, and Totinos pizzas. Lettuce, peppers, carrots, celery, apples, and oranges would not have cost any more than the basket full of crap they were....or excuse me, WE were purchasing for them.

divepromichael,
You are right I have come across the same thing. If you cannot buy alcohol or cigarettes with food coupons then there should also be a ban on junk food.

I have a friend ( who is a male ) , whose mother used to hand him her bra and say that he should wear it because he was so fat he was growing breasts. He was not a chunky child, and he's FAR from fat as an adult. He has excess fat like any other average human being, but he has lasting emotional scars from the things this mother said and did to him. And yet, while she was teasing him about his weight, all she would feed him was greasy meats and carbs. I'm sure the fact that she was a raging alcoholic had a lot to do with it though. Some people should never raise children, and that's just a sad fact.

As far as college goes many people just dont have the money.There is a direct link to poverty and obesity.Chep food is full of calories and fat.And when you have medical doctors in this country that owe half a million in school loans,We have a problem.

Lol Denton.

The idea that parents don't buy their overweight kids cars because they want them to walk or ride bikes is ridiculous. Everyone needs to exercise to be healthy even super thin people, so maybe no one should have cars? And although you went to colleges where it was easy to get around on foot or via bike, not everyone does. And in a lot of places, even cities the nearest grocery store could be all the way on the other side of town. And it's not very practical to do grocery shopping on a bike in general. Some people do, but it can be difficult. Just saying.